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GENEVA / EUROPE HEATWAVE
STORY: GENEVA / EUROPE HEATWAVE
TRT: 2:54
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH
DATELINE: 28 JUNE 2019 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior shot, Palais des Nations.
2. Wide shot, Press briefing room
3. Med shot, journalist taking notes
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, Spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO):
“We have seen a state of new maximum day time records and also minimum overnight temperatures records. I stress the overnight records are important because in night time it’s when our bodies recover, it’s when plants and animals recover. So, if we are seeing minimum overnight temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius as we have done in some places it is not good news”.
5. Wide shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, Spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO):
“There is a red alert for parts of northern Spain, Catalonia, and again heat temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees Celsius today. That’s obviously bad news for authorities battling the wild fire”.
7. Close up, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, Spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO):
“Although we are seeing exceptionally high temperatures, hopefully we will not see exceptionally high death tolls from this heat wave”.
9. Close up, hands writing
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, Spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO):
“Our science on climate changes is apolitical. Climate change and extreme weather – no national boundaries, no regional boundaries. And we have seen it, we are seeing it unfolding on a monthly basis. It’s hitting the poorest and most vulnerable, but it will ultimately hit everybody”.
11. Med shot journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Fadela Chaib, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO):
“Extended period of high day and night time temperatures create cumulative physiological stress on the human body which exacerbates the top causes of death, globally including respiratory and cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and renal-disease”.
13. Close up, journalist
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Fadela Chaib, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO):
“Some population are most exposed to or more physiologically or socio-economically vulnerable to this heat wave. For example, we have the elderly, the infant, children, pregnant women, outdoor and manual workers and of course, people who are homeless or poor and also people who exercise outside during the heatwave”.
15. Med shot, podium
16. Med shot, journalists
17. Wide shot, podium
18. Close up, hands typing
Temperature records for this time of year have been broken across much of Europe, including Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Austria, said today the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The unusually early heatwave in Europe – with temperatures in France and Spain exceeding 40 degrees Celsius – is the latest in a series of extreme weather events. June is usually slightly cooler in Europe, building up to higher temperatures later in July and August.
Speaking today to media at the UN in Geneva, the spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Clare Nullis, said that “we have seen a state of new maximum day time records and also minimum overnight temperatures records”.
She added that “I stress the overnight records are important because in night time it’s when our bodies recover, it’s when plants and animals recover. So if we are seeing minimum overnight temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius as we have done in some places it is not good news”.
The reason for this current heatwave is warm air rising across Europe from north Africa bringing high temperatures.
“There is a red alert for parts of northern Spain, Catalonia, and again heat temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees Celsius today. That’s obviously bad news for authorities battling the wild fire”, according to WMO’s spokesperson.
Nullis added that “although we are seeing exceptionally high temperatures, hopefully we will not see exceptionally high death tolls from this heat wave”.
The temperatures will rise further until Sunday when a cold front will lower temperatures again.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) earth is set to experience its five warmest year on record from 2015-2019. Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations will fuel the global heat – and accompanying ice melt, glacier retreat, sea level rise, ocean heat and extreme weather for generations to come.
“Our science on climate changes is apolitical. Climate change and extreme weather – no national boundaries, no regional boundaries”, said WMO’s Clare Nullis. “And we have seen it, we are seeing it unfolding on a monthly basis. It’s hitting the poorest and most vulnerable, but it will ultimately hit everybody”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned today of detrimental effects on the human body caused by extreme heat. Fadela Chaib, spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that “extended period of high day and night time temperatures create cumulative physiological stress on the human body which exacerbates the top causes of death, globally including respiratory and cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and renal-disease”.
Chaib also pointed out that heat waves are more difficult to be dealt by poorer countries and that certain parts of the population are suffering more under the heat. “Some population are most exposed to or more physiologically or socio-economically vulnerable to this heat wave. For example, we have the elderly, the infant, children, pregnant women, outdoor and manual workers and of course, people who are homeless or poor and also people who exercise outside during the heatwave”.
The urgency of climate action will be discussed at a meeting in Abu Dhabi from 30 June untill 1 July convened by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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