We must prepare for extreme weather

The past few days have been very difficult for us all, but especially for the old and the frail and those who live without the modern comfort of air-conditioning. The high temperatures we have been having had a multiplier effect on us all, making us all prone to tension, increasing cases of road rage and making us all nervous. To open a door or a window was like opening a furnace. The breeze was either unobtainable or else like a breath from the mouth of Lucifer, as the hot air stream straight from deepest Sahara was called.

We normally hear or read about extreme temperatures in other parts of the world, where temperatures in the mid-40s or even 50s are not unheard of. We used to think such temperatures are impossible in Malta.

Actually, the sea breezes around our small island kept us protected from extreme heat. But in the past few days, the hot air currents from the deepest Sahara overcame the temperate sea breeze. Now according to what was reported in our sister Sunday paper yesterday, and according to the Lancet Planetary Health, “As the

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mercury continues to rise over the next 54 years, children being born today will be yearning for the comparatively ‘cool’ summer days of their childhood before they reach retirement age.

“According to the new study, southern Europe is destined to be hit the hardest based on projections for heat waves and droughts. Almost everyone living in Malta, Italy, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal and Slovenia would be affected by such weather-related disasters.”

We as a country must thus prepare ourselves for this possible future. We do not come across as a people known to be prudent and with far-reaching plans for our own selves. On the contrary, we have been building and building until almost all our countryside has been gobbled up in development. We have denuded our country from trees and their welcome influence. We have depleted the water table. And we continue to fill our island with residents and tourists putting our infrastructure under extreme stress.

Now we are being told to prepare ourselves for extreme weather.

At this time of the year it is usual to have gangs of workers cleaning up the valleys and the culverts under our streets in expectation of heavy rain. Some years ago we had a huge plan to dig up a long tunnel that was intended to remove rainwater from the streets and down to the sea. We have not heard much about this in recent months: we have no idea whether the project has been completed or else what is holding it back.

When it comes to construction, we persist in building tiny apartments which require airconditioning both in warm and in cold weather, where previous buildings had natural means to ensure comfortable living.

The experience of other countries has shown us cases of extreme weather, whether flooding, hailstorms, etc. There is not much that can be done in these cases except beefing up our Civil Protection units and ensuring they have the proper means at their disposal.

For when all is said and done, notwithstanding the huge progress our civilisation has made, we still remain subject to the vagaries of the weather.