France's health minister admits up to 5,000 could have died in heat wave as he defends response

SFGate ^ | 8/18/03 | Jamey Keaton

[Paloma_55]

A senior French health official resigned Monday after the health minister acknowledged that as many as 5,000 people might have died in a blistering heat wave.

Lucien Abenhaim, director general of health, sent a letter to Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei saying he would resign because of intense criticism leveled at the government over its handling of the heat wave earlier this month. Mattei accepted the resignation.

Abenhaim suggested that the criticism faced by the government was unfair.

"We faced a heat wave catastrophe the likes of which had not been seen for more than 100 years," he said on France-Info radio. "But clearly in our country we tend a bit to look for scapegoats, which is totally unacceptable."

[Paloma_55]

25 times more people have died in France from heat exhaustion than US Soldiers have died in Iraq from the war yet our media continues to pound on the Bush Administration for our handling of Iraq and we see one story buried deep in the internet on the deaths in France.

According to the US Government, 11 people die each day in the US in automobile accidents.

Its sad when our soldiers die, but the way the media covers it, you would think that they are being sloppy, or being put into an excessively dangerous situation.. they are doing a dangerous job but that is what they do.

I thought this story highlights just how our media chooses to make headlines... or not.

[Dudoight]

I can't imagine that many people dying from the heat. What about the locals in the communities where the compromised individuals live? Where are the 'volunteers' that we would see in the US? In our country, donated fans and window AC's are distributed. Local churches activate and check on the elderly.....why is it the responsibility of just the government in France? The French people need to look at themselves and take some responsibility for just sitting around and letting these people die.

[Living Free in NH]

I thought this story highlights just how our media chooses to make headlines... or not.

Every time a soldier gets killed in an ambush, all we hear is the number ("1 more killed today"), yet when one of their own journalists is shot & killed, we get their name, picture, and life story plastered across the screen. You're damn right they're biased. Say, that gives me an idea...we need to get Dan RatherBiased over there right away.

[Tai_Chung]

I hate to defend the French government, but I don't see how those deaths are the responsbility of the government.

[Sunshine Sister]

Oh......I get it. The French government is now responsible for making the weather really hot. It's a good thing not many French people live in Kansas. They'd have lots to complain about every summer!

[dfwgator]

Too bad the elderly weren't German soldiers, at least then the French would have built trees so they could be in the shade.

[upcountryhorseman]

Apparently the French have not arrived at the 21st
century yet. These people could have been saved with air conditioners.

[Pablo64]

If the number is accurate then it is a tragedy.


But first, shouldn't we make sure they didn't just surrender? (Seriously, hasn't air conditioning been around for most of a century now??)

[Dudoight]

Excellent and accurate comment!