(((Think locally, warm globally. Every society has its idiosyncratic reactions to the planetary climate crisis.)))
Link: BIRN.
Heat Wave Brings Serbia to a Standstill
19 07 2007
Belgrade _ Serbs have been warned to avoid swimming, driving and working in the middle of the day as the country sweats through a heat wave above 40 degrees Celsius.
Due to the heat, officials ordered some companies, mainly those engaged in construction and property development, to divide their working hours and perform most of their outdoor activities in the mornings and evenings.
Labour and Social Policy Minister Rasim Ljajić said employers were being asked to prepare technical and medical measures to protect workers.
Because of the heat, Belgrade kindergartens are also stepping up hygienic measures which include the removal of all milk-based products from meals. (((Milk spoils in heat, kills babies. Maybe.)))
Calls to emergency services throughout the country have skyrocketed, mainly from the sick and the elderly. In Belgrade alone hundreds of people asked for emergency medical aid due to heat exhaustion. (((Socialized health care.)))
About two dozen fires broke out in Belgrade on Thursday. The Interior Ministry said they were probably caused by overheated electrical wires. (((Saw one downtown. Torched half an apartment building. See photos.)))
Belgrade city officials deployed some 30 water tankers to bus and train stations and major squares, urging citizens to drink and wet their head to avoid heatstroke. (((Local equivalent of opening the fire hydrants.)))
Health officials also banned the sale of eggs in open-air markets (((salmonella risk))) and warned against swimming in the Ada Ciganlija lake, as the difference in temperature between the air and the water had caused several swimmers to suffer cardiac arrests and die. (((You'll never meet a society more tenderly afraid of drafts and sudden changes of temperature than Serbia. That lake-water isn't cold, but local bathers can have a psychosomatic heart-flutter in a hot second.)))
Many drivers have postponed or cancelled their trips as temperatures in cars without air conditioning reached more than 60 degrees Celsius, causing road accidents.
