LISBON, Aug 21: More than 1,300 mostly older people died from the heatwave that ravaged Portugal this month, the health ministry said on Thursday in a preliminary report, as figures were released on the calamity that previously had officially claimed only 18 lives.

There were 1,316 more deaths in the country between July 30 and August 12 than during the same period last year, leading health officials to conclude the extra deaths were caused by the heatwave that ravaged much of southern Europe during this time, it said.

More than half of the deaths involved people 75 years or older.

“The estimates are provisional and do not cover the entire period in which the heatwave could have had an impact on mortality,” the report said.

A new estimate for the total number of deaths will be issued at the beginning of October after mortality rates for the entire month of August and September have been analyzed.

Portugal was especially hard hit by a hot air system which affected much of Europe, fueling wildfires and sparking an increase in deaths among vulnerable sections of the population, notably those over 75.

The country suffered the highest temperatures on the continent, recording a mighty 47.3 degrees Celsius (117.1 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 1 in the town of Amarelejo on the Spanish border.

The heatwave was the longest and hottest in Portugal since records began being kept in 1856, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius throughout much of the country between July 29 and August 13.

Records for water and electricity consumption were shattered and beaches all along the coast were packed at night as people struggled to stay cool.

The dry heat also fuelled wildfires which destroyed 215,000 hectares (530,000 acres) of woodland and bush — an area almost the size of Luxembourg — and claimed 18 lives, including that of two firefighters.

The government declared the wildfires a national disaster and estimates they have caused nearly one billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) in damage.

The health ministry report said the number of heat-related deaths was lower than those from a 10-day heatwave in 1981, when 1,900 people died, but higher than a heatwave one decade later when 1,000 people perished.

When the hot weather began, the ministry issued a warning for elderly people to avoid walking outside during the hottest time of day and to drink plenty of water.

A special hotline set up to help people suffering from health problems due to the heat fielded more than 1,800 calls.

The measures taken in Portugal stand in contrast to the government inaction in France where the death toll in the heatwave may top 10,000, many of the victims elderly and living alone.

Still, some here have blasted the government measures put in place to deal with the heatwave as insufficient.

Manuel Costa Alves, chief assistant to the government’s Meteorology Institute, said a lack of planning led to the high death toll, which he described as “catastrophic”.

“We are very unprepared in this area. We still do not have an emergency plan to minimize the harmful effects caused by a heatwave,” he told private radio TSF.

He said the government should have launched a more aggressive television campaign to warn people of the health risks from the extreme heat and ensured that health workers visited the elderly to check on their well-being.

The government should also make air conditioning mandatory in retirement homes for the elderly, Alves said.—AFP