Relentless heat sparks surge in heat-related illnesses, livestock losses in South Korea

SEOUL - The ongoing heatwave continues to take a toll on humans and livestock alike, with men, the elderly and manual labourers most affected, while poultry remains the hardest hit among animals.

As at Aug 11, South Korea reported nearly 2,300 heat-related illnesses and more than 700,000 livestock deaths, data showed on Aug 13.

According to the Interior Ministry, the cumulative number of heat-related illness cases had reached 2,293, with 21 deaths reported. This is the highest number since the record-breaking heatwave of 2018, when 3,841 such cases were reported by the end of summer.

This summer is being compared to the one six years ago, as Seoul and much of the region continue to experience suffocating daytime temperatures between 33 deg C and 35 deg C, which were made even more unbearable by high humidity.

Seoul experienced its 22nd consecutive tropical night from Aug 11 night till Aug 12.

On Aug 3 alone, 183 heat-related illness cases were recorded.

Although the numbers have been trending down since then – 120 on Aug 4, 122 on Aug 5, 93 on both Aug 6 and Aug 7, 72 on Aug 8, 75 on Aug 9, 76 on Aug 10 and 53 on Aug 11 – they still remain high compared with previous years.

The number of total accumulated heat-related illness cases stood at 1,455 in 2019, 478 in 2020, 1,279 in 2021, 1,358 in 2022 and 2,139 in 2023.

Out of the total number of heat victims this summer, men accounted for 77.4 per cent.

By age group, those aged 65 and over were the highest proportion at 32.1 per cent. In terms of occupation, manual labourers made up 21.5 per cent of the cases, followed by the unemployed at 13.9 per cent.

More than half of the cases were heat exhaustion at 54.6 per cent, followed by heatstroke at 21.6 per cent and heat cramps at 13.5 per cent.

The number of livestock deaths due to the heatwave has also increased, with 703,000 animals perishing in the relentless sweltering heat.

The most significant impact has been on poultry, particularly ducks and chickens. So far, 658,000 poultry have died, along with 45,000 pigs.

As sea temperatures have risen, aquaculture facilities have reported a loss of 895,000 fishes, including species like flatfish.

Currently, most regions across the country are expected to experience extremely hot weather, with maximum perceived temperatures around 35 deg C. Tropical nights are also likely to occur in many areas, particularly along the western coastal regions.

The Interior Ministry activated the first phase out of three at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on July 31, and raised the heatwave crisis alert from “warning” to “severe” in response to the ongoing situation. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK