Chirac faults public in heat deaths

France puts toll at up to 10,000

By John Leicester, Associated Press, 8/22/2003

PARIS -- As many as 10,000 people may have died in France's heat wave, the government acknowledged yesterday, and President Jacques Chirac solemnly promised health system changes. But he also leveled criticism at the public, saying that many elderly victims had "died alone in their homes."

Chirac, under fire from opposition politicians and newspapers for not speaking out earlier, promised that "everything will be done" to correct failings in the health system that was overwhelmed by victims of the heat. But his government said ministers would not resign.

While praising emergency, hospital, and retirement home workers, Chirac peppered his address to the nation with criticism of a society he said needs to better care for its most vulnerable members.

"The heat wave touched the health and daily lives of the French. It caused a large number of victims," Chirac said after a Cabinet meeting on the crisis. "Many fragile people died alone in their homes. These dramas again shed light on the solitude of many of our aged or handicapped citizens."

France's longest and hottest heat wave, with temperatures that topped 104 in the first two weeks of August, probably caused about 10,000 deaths, said Hubert Falco, secretary of state for the elderly.

In a separate interview with the newspaper Le Monde, Falso said the crisis showed that France is coping badly with aging, a problem shared by many developed nations.

He said that "mortality linked to the heat wave was highest" among people older than 85, who number 1.2 million in France and in 10 years will total 2.4 million.

But nearly 80 percent of retirement facilities are short-staffed, Falco said. "Our society was not prepared."

While other European governments have not reported death tolls as high as those in France, signs are emerging of significant spikes in the number of deaths in several countries where temperatures also soared.

The Central Bureau for Statistics said the heat claimed 500 to 1,000 lives in the Netherlands, and Portugal's Health Ministry estimated more than 1,300 dead. Germany, which was not as hot and is counting its dead more slowly, has tallied only 30 heat-related deaths.

Italy's Health Ministry has refused to give figures, but calls by the Associated Press to several major cities found marked increases in deaths compared with last year. Genoa had 693 in the first 18 days of August, compared with 475 in the whole month last year. In Turin, 732 died, more than 500 of them older than 70, compared with 388 last year.

In France, morgues and funeral homes overflowed with bodies, hospitals struggled, and painful questions are being asked about attitudes toward the elderly.

"People have lost their sense of responsibility. They think the government is going to resolve every problem in their life," said Nadia Finkielman, who was lending moral support to a grieving friend at a Paris morgue where mourning families prepared to bury their dead.

Alerted by a caretaker who noticed that her mail was piling up, police in the Normandy town of Caen found the body of a 73-year-old woman Wednesday who lived alone and apparently had died a month ago.

Some critics blamed families for leaving elderly relatives at home while they took vacations. Health workers blamed understaffing and underfunding at hospitals and retirement homes.

"As a result of having counted the health costs for the French down to the last cent, we're today counting the dead," Communist Party legislator Alain Bocquet said.

That Chirac spoke live on radio and television was a measure of the pressure faced by his center-right administration. As president, Chirac generally stays above the political fray, an attitude now being assailed.

Chirac was vacationing in Canada during the heat wave and did not speak about the crisis until yesterday, although aides said he was following the situation. Some critics pointed out that unlike former prime minister Lionel Jospin, who broke off a vacation to Egypt when France suffered storms in 1999, Chirac did not return home.

"What wounded the French was the feeling that their leaders were not present on a moral, human, and emotional level," Socialist Party legislator Jack Lang, a former education minister, told the daily newspaper Le Parisien.

"Chirac, a long surprising silence," conservative-leaning Le Figaro said.

"Chirac counts the dead," said left-leaning Liberation.

France's medical system is widely regarded as one of the world's best. But some health workers said it fell short in August because of laws restricting France's workweek to 35 hours, worsening staff shortages.

Chirac promised reviews and said that emergency services would be given means to deal with crises. But he stopped short of saying whether the government, already criticized by the European Union for overspending, would provide more funding.

Opposition leaders remained critical.

"Mr. Chirac's belated compassion cannot exonerate the government of its responsibility," said Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party.