Climate change threat hangs over Hajj pilgrimage
RIYADH Nearly 2 million Muslims will reach the end of the Hajj pilgrimage this week, but extreme heat has proved fatal for hundreds who began the journey last Friday to the Kaaba shrine at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. At least 562 people have died during the Hajj, according to a Reuters tally based on foreign ministry statements and sources. Meanwhile, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of figures released by various countries, that figure brought the total reported dead so far to 922. Egypt alone has registered 307 deaths and another 118 missing, medical and security sources told Reuters, as temperatures at times soared past 51 C. "It was so harsh and the people cannot bear that type of heat," Wilayet Mustafa, a Pakistani pilgrim, said. Climate scientists said such deaths offer a glimpse of what is to come in coming decades to undertake the Hajj. "The Hajj has been conducted in a certain way for more than 1,000 years now, and it's always been a hot climate," Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, a scientific adviser at Climate Analytics in Germany, said. "But ... the climate crisis is adding to the severity of the climate conditions". The timing of the Hajj is determined by the lunar year, which sees the pilgrimage move back by 10 days annually. While the Hajj is now moving toward winter, it will coincide with the peak of summer in Saudi Arabia by the 2040s. The situation will get much worse as the world warms, scientists said. Fahad Saeed, a climate scientist based in Pakistan at Climate Analytics, and Schleussner published a 2021 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters, which found that if the world warms by 1.5 C above preindustrial levels, heatstroke risk for pilgrims on the Hajj will be five times greater. The world is on track to reach 1.5 C of warming in the 2030s. Saudi Arabia has always been working to ensure people's safety. In 2016, Saudi Arabia published a heat strategy that included constructing shaded areas, establishing drinking water points every 500 meters, and improving healthcare capacity. Saudi health authorities warned pilgrims to stay hydrated and avoid being outdoors between 11 am and 3 pm during this Hajj. Egyptian pilgrim Sameh Al-Zayni said he received water from Saudi authorities, and a Reuters witness saw Saudi police handing out water and spraying crowds to cool them down. Spraying water is only effective at temperatures below about 35 C, scientists said. If temperatures are too high, spraying water does not help and can add to the risk in humid conditions when people struggle to shed heat through sweating. Agencies Via Xinhua