Measures against heat

Personal measures

• Stay at home or seek out cool places like schools, libraries and department stores.
• Outside activities should be avoided during extreme heat as should the wearing of heavy dark clothing.
• It is particularly important to drink enough fluids during a heat wave and eat light food.

Elderly people, people in need of care and children are most vulnerable to the risks posed by heat. Elderly people often have poor body heat regulation and young people are often unaware as to how their bodies can be stressed by heat. Thus it is important to make other people aware of the consequences of heat.

Technical and organisational measures

• Early warning systems, the monitoring of risk groups and provision of information to the population can alleviate the negative impacts of heat waves.
• Better insulation and smaller windows reduce the penetration of heat to the inside of buildings.
• Ventilation corridors and green belts in cities prevent the accumulation of hot air masses.