In August 2003, a major tragedy struck France: heat. 14,802 people were killed by the hot, dry air that smothered the country for a fortnight, most of them elderly, many of them dying alone. “For me, 2003, it’s really like something that comes from the future and says you must get ready because I’m going to come back,” says Mathilde Pascale, scientific project manager at Santé Publique France. At the time, France was caught unawares, unused to perceiving heat as a killer. As the mercury crept up to 37C, newspapers portrayed it as fun in the sun, while the health minister gave a reassuring TV a…
