UN, Red Cross seek better preparation for future heat waves

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The international Red Cross and the United Nations want people and governments to do more to beat the heat by getting ready for heat waves like the recent ones from Sacramento, California, to Somalia to Sichuan, China, that could take many lives in the future. U.N. humanitarian aid agency OCHA and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued Monday their first joint report that chronicles the devastation of past scorchers and laying out ways to prepare for and limit the damage of future ones. The report said 38 heat waves accounted for the deaths of more than 70,000 people worldwide from 2010 to 2019.