With forecasts of a year even hotter than the past as a backdrop, the Committee of Experts and Advisors on Climate Change (Ceacc) plans to deliver, in just over a month, the plan that would govern public policy aimed at facing the challenges of this threat in the country, which would include, among other things, actions and recommendations against the extreme heat.
“(Extreme heat) is a major threat to the entire Caribbean. It is known as the silent killer and affects many aspects, such as health, agriculture, water availability, terrestrial and oceanographic resources and energy consumption, among others.he indicated this Tuesday Pablo Mendez Lazaromember of Ceacc, during the First Meeting on Extreme Heat in the Caribbean, which the Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network (CCAN) is holding this week in the Medical Sciences Campus (RCM) of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).
Along these lines, the CCAN principal investigator and professor of the RCM Department of Environmental Health, highlighted that the Puerto Rico Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience Plan will contain “concrete actions for schools and also available information on where “find the communities most vulnerable to heat,” as well as health recommendations on how to improve surveillance systems.
“We submitted the draft in September and now, in April, we will deliver the final document (to the governor Pedro Pierluisi), with the input collected in the public hearings,” he declared.
During the meeting, the meteorologist and also a member of Ceacc, Ada Monzón, remembered that Last year marked a historic event for Puerto Rico with very hot temperaturesincluding 53 days of extreme heat.
“This year, an even more active season is predicted (than last year)”he warned.
Along these lines, the meteorologist Ernesto Moralesnotice coordinator National Weather Service (SNM), explained that the extreme heat event that hit the island last year was extensive, and lasted between April and November. The comparable one, he said, was one that occurred in 1980, but the one in 2023 surpasses it due to the records he established.
For this year, Morales indicated, the climatic dangers per month defined by the SNM include warmer between May and Octoberas well as the usual Hurricane season between June and November.
After the Hurricane MariaIn September 2017, 11 consecutive days of extreme heat passed, without electricity and associated amenities, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, Méndez Lázaro highlighted.
Despite this and other recent emergencies, he regretted the lack of protocols in agencies such as the Departments of Education and Labor to deal with events related to extreme heat. “We are putting out fires. We lack concrete actions”held.
According to the environmental scientist and associate researcher of the Comprehensive Cancer CenterAlthough Puerto Rico already has an early warning system for heat indices that the SNM issues, the responsibility of the agencies in communicating these alerts needs to be defined. In turn, he recommended taking actions to mitigate the heat, for example, in schools, modifying schedules, improving ventilation systems and planting in their surroundings.
“We can't wait for summer 2024 to arrive and the school year starts in August and the same thing happens as last year”, mentioned about the heat events that caused the cancellation of classes, among other health consequences. In addition to dehydration, these events particularly affect cardiovascular health, she explained.
“The biggest challenge is public policy and making sure the people understand it. They have to understand what the (health) impact is if it's hot. This is a culture change that has been predicted for a long time. We have to change lifestyles, it is a new reality and we have to adapt to it”said Morales, meanwhile, who acknowledged that the Puerto Rico Weather Forecast Office (WFO) lacks an excessive heat program.
The doctor was also present at the meeting. Liza Millanof the Office of Public Health Response and Preparedness Coordination of the Health Departmentwho pointed out that, when the SNM reports that there will be an extreme heat event, an alert is issued to hospitals so that they know that they could receive a greater number of affected patients.
According to Millán, extreme heat can generate anxiety and a feeling of loss of control, among other impacts on health. mental healthwhich is why it recommended considering psychological models in messages to citizens to guide them about these events and the suggested behavioral modifications.
For his part, the doctor Evan Mallenfrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), highlighted that Temperatures do not have to be so high to affect health. In the United States, he noted, about 1,220 related deaths are recorded annually and, among the most affected, are children, older adults and low-income communities.
It established that, although the CDC has a heat and health tracker, for now this tool does not include Puerto Rico, Alaska or Hawaii.
Lenulisy Rosado Estradaof the League of Cities of Puerto Rico, commented, meanwhile, that more than an environmental issue, the extreme heat It is a governance issue that affects the security, health, access, justice and finances of the population.. “Extreme heat is a 'glocal' problem, which exacerbates health inequities,” he said.
Finally, Melanie Rodriguez, from the Caribbean Project to Build Resilience and Climate Equity, listed some actions that this program, which is part of the Public Health Trust, is taking. For example, including information about the threats of climate change in the emergency plans that are developed in homes and the creation of an educational curriculum that helps students know, prepare and help in the search for solutions.