Jakarta. Indonesia confirmed Wednesday that none of its citizens had died from Europe heatwave, following estimates that thousands of people had died from the sky-high temperatures.
Europe has been witnessing a record-breaking heatwave over the past week. The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the cruel summer had led to over 1,300 excess deaths since June 21.
Heni Hamidah, the Foreign Ministry’s director for citizen protection, told a news conference that the heat dome had not claimed any Indonesian victim.
“We have spoken with our diplomatic representatives there. There is no Indonesian citizen who has become a victim of the heatwave. However, our [embassies] have hotlines [that the citizens can access],” Heni said in Jakarta.
ADVERTISEMENT
The government had also advised people to take precautionary steps to cope in the hot weather.
The diplomat did not say how many Indonesians are in Europe.
Temperatures had soared over 40 degrees Celcius in many places. Unlike Indonesia, air conditioning is uncommon in European homes. In a recent social media post, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described “heat stress” as a “silent killer”.
“European homes, workplaces, and schools were not built for these temperatures,” Tedros said.
Tags:
Keywords:
