GE-R-1 + 2: Heat warning service and Public awareness of health problems
2023 Monitoring Report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change
Table of Contents
GE-R-1: Heat warning service
The DWD ‘Newsletter Hitzewarnungen’ (NL heat warnings) provides information at times when ‘starke’ (major) or ‘extreme Wärmebelastung’ (extreme heat stress) is to be expected for the current or the next day. In the course of previous years, the number of subscribers (facilities such as hospitals as well as private individuals) to the newsletter increased steadily. However, latterly this development came to a standstill, as the use of warning apps became increasingly popular.
The bar chart GE-R-1 ’Heat warning service’ illustrates the annual number of newsletter subscriptions for the heat warning service provided by the GWS from 2008 onwards. The number was rising significantly and latterly amounted to just under 15,000 subscriptions. There are no data available for the years of 2018 or 2019.
GE-R-2: Public awareness of health problems caused by heatwaves
There has been an increase in the awareness of health hazards connected with great and persistent heat. In 2021 already 53 % of respondents stated that in terms of their own health, they expected to be affected in future either severely or very severely. Only every tenth respondent stated that they did not expect to be affected in future.
The bar chart GE-R-2 ’Public awareness of health problems caused by heatwaves’ illustrates the findings of a survey in which respondents were asked to state whether they expect that in future their physical wellbeing in their own living environment will be affected very severely, severely, little or not at all affected (by heatwaves). The survey was conducted in the years of 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021. From 2012 to 2016 one of the options was ’don’t know’. The proportion of those respondents who stated that they expected to be severely affected, increased from 5.1 per cent in 2012 to 14 per cent in 2021. Latterly 39 per cent expected to be severely affected compared to 22.7 per cent who ticked this option in the first survey conducted in 2012. The response ’little affected’ was given in a similar percentage. In 2021 only 10 per cent responded with ’not at all affected’ as against 33 per cent in 2012.
Heat warnings support preventative measures
The high number of heat-related mortalities and hospital stays in the hot summer of 2003 (cf. Indicator GE-I-2) demonstrated that we have to prepare for such health-threatening events in a more targeted way. In order to enable, in particular, health facilities such as hospitals and individuals with solitary lifestyles to prepare for imminent heatwaves and to take timely precautionary and protective measures, the DWD introduced a heat warning system in 2005. With differentiation between warning districts, heat warnings are issued on a daily basis for the current and the next day, as soon as the ‘perceived temperature’ reaches the threshold value defined, and as indicated by other factors such as thermal situations in towns and cities (cf. Indicator GE-I-1).
Heat warnings are issued in various ways: via the internet or via subscription to the ‘Newsletter Hitzewarnungen’ (heat warnings) (www.hitzewarnungen.de); since July 2013 also via smartphone apps and via apps associated with disaster warnings (NINA, Katwarn). Alongside the institutions of the health service, private individuals now also make use of the newsletter. The number of subscriptions was rising continuously in past years, but latterly came to a standstill in 2020 and 2021. There are no numbers available for the years 2018 or 2019, as the conditions for data storage changed since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) in 2018, thus making it necessary to establish a new system. The stagnation of newsletter subscriptions is presumably due to the growing use of apps which are more in accord with current usage behaviour. The heat warning app introduced in 2015 was switched off in 2020, as the more broadly themed DWD GesundheitsWetter-App came into operation at the end of May 2020. This app informs the public health service, vulnerable people and at-risk-groups as well as the general public on topical, weather-related health hazards. In concrete terms, the app contains official UV and heat warnings as well as information on the ‘perceived temperature’, pollen forecasts as well as the hazard indices of weather sensitivity. Besides, the DWD WarnWetter-App also provides information on heat warnings. However, it is generally more complex, targeting a different user group. Another reason for the 2020 / 2021 stagnation might be that the Covid-19 pandemic eclipsed most other health concerns.
It is reasonable to assume that it is due to more intensive PR activities regarding heat impacts and the more vigorous communication of risks, both by authorities and by medical doctors, that the public’s awareness of health impairments arising from heat periods has increased in recent years. This is indicated by the findings from the representative population survey entitled ‘Environmental awareness in Germany’ which is carried out at regular intervals on behalf of the UBA and the Federal Environment Ministry49. The proportion of respondents who subjectively expect for their own future that heatwaves would have either very severe or severe effects on their own physical wellbeing or their health, has increased since the first survey was conducted in 2012. Although the increase was less pronounced latterly than in the early years of the survey, in 2021 already 53 % of respondents stated that they expected to be either severely or very severely affected by the future development. By 2021 only 10 % considered themselves not affected in any way, whereas in the first survey as much as 33 % of respondents had expected not to be affected. For the first time in 2021 the data were collected within the framework of a special survey on environmental awareness which will in future be conducted only every four years. Another reason for the increased awareness of heat-related hazards is assumed to be that – especially over the past ten years – there were several occasions on which record temperatures and heatwaves were experienced. This made the impacts of climate change very real for the life experience of individuals.
However, in order to be really effective, heat warnings have to be followed up by concrete actions and the adaptation of behaviours. This includes the prevention of major physical exertions, drinking enough fluids, ensuring proper electrolyte balance as well as taking measures to ensure both the active and passive cooling of rooms. Residential homes for the care of the elderly and people with disabilities as well as care homes, are inhabited by people who are not necessarily able to take such measures unaided. The care and attendance workers will therefore have to provide active support. It has so far not been examined systematically nationwide as to which actions are actually triggered by heat warnings.
49 - infas – Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH 2022: Tabellenband – Zusatzbefragung im Rahmen der Umweltbewusstseinsstudie 2020, Themenbereich: Klimaanpassung. Im Auftrag des Umweltbundesamts. Bonn, 39 pp. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/2378/dokumente/tabellenband_ubs_zusatzbefragung_sept_2021_klimaanpassung.pdf
