Why do forty degrees kill hundreds in some countries of the world while the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula coexist with it?

Weather of Arabia - Europeans remember well the black summer of 2003, when they lost thousands of their relatives, loved ones and acquaintances, not because of a virus or pandemic, but because of a record heat wave that hit the continent during which temperatures were recorded forty, causing the death of 70,000 people within two weeks.

In 2015, the European continent was exposed to another severe heat wave, after which many countries of the continent recorded the same numbers as the deadly 2003 heat wave, despite the measures taken by the authorities to prevent a recurrence of the disaster.

In the same year, heat waves that struck India and Pakistan killed thousands, with temperatures reaching between 45-48 degrees Celsius, which is a normal degree in some areas of the Arabian Peninsula where temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius in many summer days.

In the summer of 2021, western parts of Canada and the United States of America were subjected to a historically severe heat wave in which temperatures exceeded 45 degrees Celsius, causing dozens of deaths in Canada and the United States.

This raises many questions about the reason for the occurrence of these numbers of victims in the countries of the world once the temperatures reach numbers that are considered normal in many Arab regions, at a time when the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula are escaping from higher temperatures?

A heat wave usually occurs when a hot air mass prevails, raising temperatures in the region above the annual average by at least 5 degrees Celsius, and it lasts for more than three days. There are many reasons behind the survival of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula from falling prey to heat waves and extreme temperatures. The following are the most important of these reasons:

The victims of heat waves are mostly the homeless, workers and the elderly

When severe heat waves strike, they often kill the homeless who have taken up residence in the streets, without protection, air conditioning, or shelter to protect them, especially in poor countries. The patients.

Poor equipment to receive unusual heat waves

Most residents of poor countries or countries not accustomed to heat waves do not have air-conditioning devices to protect them from severe heat; And then the problem becomes more exacerbated, and sometimes the electricity is cut off due to the great demand, and the severe pressure on electrical energy during the heat wave, and the problem will intensify, while in the Arabian Peninsula, which is hit by more severe heat waves, the living conditions and infrastructure in those countries mitigate the impact of climatic extremism - thanks to the God Almighty.

The ability of the human body to withstand extreme heat depends on how well it adapts

The human body adapts according to the climate prevailing in the region in which it lives. In Europe, for example, cold weather prevails most days of the year, and it becomes moderate in summer, and temperatures do not exceed 25 degrees Celsius in most European capitals during summer days, with the exception of southern European countries, the nature of the climate This led to the adaptation of the European body to the cold climate and its resistance to cold and its failure to adapt to the hot weather, in contrast to the nature of the Arab human body, which is adapted to the nature of the hot region.

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The length of the day

The sun sets in Europe for a few hours during the summer, and in some areas of northern Europe the sun never sets during the summer. These long daylight hours mean that the maximum temperature is recorded early during the day, and it lasts for a long time until it returns to decrease as the sun disk moves towards the west .

high humidity

We must differentiate between the temperature announced by the meteorologists, and the real heat index (Heat Index) that the person actually feels, as it is taken into account when calculating the air temperature with the degree of humidity, and the result is what a person feels during this heat wave, and in Europe For example, forests, grasses, lakes and rivers cover vast areas of land, and the European continent overlooks many seas from all sides, which leads to high humidity throughout the year.

During the heat wave that struck India and Pakistan, most of the deaths in Pakistan were recorded in the high humidity coastal city of Karachi, and when the humidity in the atmosphere rises in conjunction with the high temperature, this leads to weakness or stopping of the body's own cooling process through sweating, as the secretion of sweat decreases The evaporation of sweat stops, and the temperature of the human body rises to a point that leads to death.

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Accordingly, it becomes clear the importance of dry weather in hot regions such as the interior regions of the Arabian Peninsula compared to the coastal regions. Despite the high temperature, the human sweating mechanism works efficiently and effectively in order to get rid of heat inside the body through self-cooling, and God has created affairs.

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