"Heatwaves are the deadliest type of extreme weather, but they don't leave behind a trail of destruction or striking images of devastation. They kill poor, lonely people in rich countries and poor people working outdoors in developing countries," Otto said.
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The rich take refuge in air-conditioned rooms and cars.
"There will be thousands of stories from the last 13 months about poor people dying in the heat that will never be told," the climatologist added.
The exact death toll from extreme heat will probably never be known, but it is certain that low-income groups are hardest hit, the Guardian noted, calling this "heat inequality".
"While the wealthy travel from air-conditioned homes in air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned offices, restaurants and shopping malls, the heat from these artificially cooled spaces is released onto the streets, where less privileged workers sweat as couriers, construction workers or street cleaners," the newspaper wrote.
Last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said humanity was facing an "extreme heat epidemic" and called for action to protect the most vulnerable.
"Extreme heat is increasingly tearing through economies, deepening inequality, undermining sustainable growth goals and killing people. Heat is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year, about 30 times more than tropical cyclones," Guterres said.
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The warmest days in the history of measurements
July 21, 22 and 23 were the three warmest days on record since 1940, according to data from the Copernicus programme, an EU initiative monitoring climate change. The record was set on Monday, July 22, when the average global temperature was 17.16 degrees Celsius.
About 1,300 people died during this year’s Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, mostly from heatstroke. In June, the heat killed dozens of Sudanese migrants crossing illegally into Egypt. Officials patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, estimated that migrant deaths would double between 2022 and 2023 as temperatures rose.
Meanwhile, in less developed countries, authorities often do not have the capacity to investigate every death, especially in conflict regions such as Afghanistan, Mali, Sudan, Somalia or the Central African Republic, the Guardian stressed.
Climate change is raising temperatures during heatwaves by 2.5 degrees Celsius, according to World Weather Attribution. "That extra heat could mean the difference between life and death for many of these people," Otto said.
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