朝圣、音乐节、奥运会，极端酷热下的大型活动有多危险
Heat Is Killing Thousands, and Big Events Have Not Adjusted

At large events all over the world, the scenes of extreme heat stress are starting to look familiar. Older men, shirts undone, lying down with their eyes closed. Aid tents packed with the unconscious. And lines of the faithful — whether they seek religion, music, ballot boxes or sport — sweating under slivers of shade.
在世界各地的大型活动中，极端热应激的场景开始变得司空见惯。上了年纪的男人，上衣被解开，闭着眼睛躺着。救援帐篷里挤满了失去知觉的人。一排排的信徒——无论信仰的是宗教、音乐、选举还是体育赛事——都在没有多少荫蔽的烈日下汗流浃背。

The consequences have been dire. At this year’s hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, at least 1,300 people died as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And in many ways, that heavy toll was just the latest sign that crowd control and heat waves fueled by climate change are on a dangerous collision course.
后果是可怕的。在今年沙特阿拉伯的圣地朝觐中，至少有1300人在超过摄氏37度的气温之下死亡。人群控制和气候变化引发的热浪正在汇合成一股危险的力量，此次惨重的伤亡只是这一趋势的最新例证。

During India’s recent election, dozens of poll workers died on the job. Last summer, troops of Boy Scouts visiting South Korea for a jubilee became sick from heat, as did others at music festivals in Australia, Europe and North America.
在印度最近的选举中，数十名投票工作人员因公殉职。去年夏天，前往韩国参加50周年纪念活动的童子军因高温而生病，澳大利亚、欧洲和北美的音乐节上也出现了同样的情况。

Even as heat kills more people today than any other extreme weather event, there is still a dangerous cultural lag. Many major-event organizers and attendees are still behind the climate curve, failing to contend with just how much a warming planet has elevated the risk to summer crowds.
如今酷暑造成的死亡人数超过了其他任何极端天气事件，但仍存在一种危险的文化滞后。许多大型活动的组织者和参与者仍然对气候的变化曲线缺乏关注，没有意识到地球变暖给夏季人群带来的风险有多大。

“As the warm seasons get longer, as the heat waves come earlier, we’re going to have to adapt,” said Benjamin Zaitchik, a climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University who studies health-damaging climate events. Along with personal behavior, he added, infrastructure, emergency management and social calendars must “really acknowledge this new reality.”
“随着温暖季节变得更长，热浪来得更早，我们必须做出调整，”约翰·霍普金斯大学研究有损健康的气候事件的气候科学家本杰明·扎伊奇克说。他还说，除了个人行为，基础设施、应急管理和社交日程也必须“真正认识到这一新的现实”。

Among the many low-tech ways to prevent sickness and death are shade, water stations, sidewalks painted white to reflect heat and emergency health services to treat severe cases of heatstroke. Some hot and innovative places, like Singapore, have constructed public spaces uniting the outdoors with the indoors. They have added air-conditioning to areas where people might have to spend time waiting, such as bus stops.
关于预防疾病和死亡，有许多低技术含量的方法，包括遮阳、供水站、把人行道涂成白色以反射热量，以及为严重中暑病例提供紧急医疗服务。新加坡等一些炎热而具有创新精神的地方建造了将室外与室内结合起来的公共空间，在公交车站等人们可能需要花时间等待的地方加装了空调。

The hardest fix of all may be one that is also in some ways the simplest: educating ordinary people about the risks of heat, including those who are accustomed to living in hot places. Often, they are unaware of the early symptoms of heat stress or how high temperatures are especially dangerous for people with pre-existing health conditions, like kidney disease or hypertension. Even medicines, such as anticholinergic drugs, that treat allergies or asthma can accelerate problems by restricting sweat.
最困难的解决办法可能也是最简单的：教育普通人了解炎热的危害，包括那些习惯于在炎热地区生活的人。通常，他们不知道热应激的早期症状，也不知道高温对已经患有肾病或高血压等疾病的人来说是多么危险。即使是治疗过敏或哮喘的药物，如抗胆碱能药物，也会因排汗受限而加速问题的出现。

“Heat is a very, very complex and sneaky killer,” said Tarik Benmarhnia, an environmental epidemiologist and associate professor at University of California, San Diego. “It’s very silent.”
“高温是一个非常非常复杂、非常狡猾的杀手，”加州大学圣地亚哥分校的环境流行病学家、副教授塔里克·本玛尼亚说。“它是无声的。”

A religious pilgrimage can be the trickiest of all events. Devotees of many faiths — Christians in the Philippines; Hindus in India; Muslims in Saudi Arabia — have died from heatstroke in the past few years during religious rituals.
宗教朝圣可能是所有活动中最棘手的。在过去几年里，菲律宾的基督教徒、印度的印度教徒、沙特阿拉伯的穆斯林等多种信仰的教徒在宗教仪式上中暑身亡。

But the hajj carries perhaps the gravest level of danger.
但麦加朝圣可能是最危险的。

The entire Arabian Peninsula is hot and warming fast, with nighttime temperatures also rising, stealing away the hours when the body usually cools down. Hajj takes place over five or six days, compounding heat exposure in the holy city of Mecca.
整个阿拉伯半岛都很炎热，而且升温迅速，夜间气温也在上升，偷走了人体通常可以降温的时间。朝觐要持续五到六天，加剧了圣城麦加的高温曝露问题。

The hajj calendar is also set by the lunar cycle, so the scheduled times for the journey could be the hottest, as was the case this year. And because pilgrims tend to be disproportionately old, they are more vulnerable to the effects of intense heat.
而且朝圣日历是根据月亮周期决定的，所以预定的行程时间可能就像今年这样，正是最热的时候。由于朝圣者的年龄往往较高，他们也更容易受到高温的影响。

Dr. Benmarhnia shuddered when he heard the news of this year’s hajj deaths.
本玛尼亚听到今年朝圣死亡的消息后不寒而栗。

“I thought this could have happened to my grandmother,” he said by telephone Monday.
“我觉得本可能发生在我祖母身上，”周一，他在电话中说。

He had paid for her trip to Mecca in 2019. She was 75 years old, but, thankfully, he said, she went on a smaller pilgrimage during a cooler time, in April. With the death toll this year, he suggested that heat experts use what happened to quickly devise adaptation strategies with religious authorities.
2019年，他曾资助她的麦加之旅。她已经75岁了，但他说，值得庆幸的是，她在凉爽的四月份参加了一次规模较小的朝圣。鉴于今年的死亡人数，他建议高温专家利用发生的情况，与宗教当局迅速制定适应策略。

The Saudi Ministry of Health had introduced educational campaigns urging people to stay hydrated and use umbrellas. Officials set up field hospitals and water stations. They deployed thousands of paramedics.
沙特卫生部开展教育活动，敦促人们多补水并使用遮阳伞。官员们建立了临时医院和供水站。他们部署了数以千计的医护人员。

It was not nearly enough for a surge of millions, including many who sidestepped national quotas meant to limit the crowd size. And Saudi Arabia has faced criticism over the deaths for its handling of the pilgrimage.
对于数以百万计的朝圣者来说，这远远不够，其中许多人无视了旨在限制人群规模的国家配额。而沙特阿拉伯在朝圣死亡事件的处置上也遭到了批评。

India’s election this year demonstrated that even in places where people think they are accustomed to heat, much more awareness is needed on the dangers of extreme heat.
印度今年的选举表明，即使在人们认为已经习惯了高温的地方，也需要对极端高温的危险有更多的认识。

In Bihar, at least 14 people died by the end of May, and at least 10 of them were polling personnel, according to the state’s disaster relief officials. At one point in June, nearly 100 people died within 72 hours in Odisha in cases suspected to be linked to heat conditions.
据比哈尔邦救灾官员称，截至5月底，该邦至少有14人死亡，其中至少有10人是选举工作人员。今年6月，奥里萨邦有近100人在72小时内死亡，疑似与高温天气有关。

Health officials in India have had to prepare. Inside heatstroke units in Delhi hospitals, patients were immediately immersed in an ice-filled submersion tub to bring down their temperatures. In a ward equipped with an ice-making refrigerator, ice boxes and ventilators, critical patients were immediately placed on slabs of ice and injected with cold fluids.
印度卫生官员被迫应对。在德里医院的中暑病房里，病人被立即浸泡在装满冰的浴缸里，以降低体温。在一个配备了制冰机、冰盒和呼吸机的病房里，危重患者被立即放在冰块上，并浇灌冷水。

But in many areas, heat waves and voting peaked around the same time — including in the Aurangabad district of Bihar, home to some three million people, where temperatures approached a desultory 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in late May.
但在许多地区，热浪和投票几乎在同一时间达到高峰——包括在拥有约300万人口的比哈尔邦奥兰加巴德地区，5月底，那里的气温接近48摄氏度。

Ravi Bhushan Srivastava, the chief medical officer at a government hospital, was on his way to assess the daily post-mortem reports on one particularly bad day, when 60 patients were admitted for heatstroke.
一家政府医院的首席医疗官拉维·布山·斯里瓦斯塔瓦正要去评估每日验尸报告，那天情况特别糟糕，有60名患者因中暑入院。

“At least 35 to 40 were in a bad condition,” he said. “They were either unconscious, in altered consciousness, with very hot bodies and having trouble breathing.”
“至少有35到40人情况不佳，”他说。“他们要么失去知觉，要么处于意识改变状态，身体温度很高，呼吸困难。”

“I have never seen patients with symptoms of heatstroke in such large numbers and with such intensity in my entire career,” he added.
他还说：“在我的整个职业生涯中，从未见过如此多的患者出现如此严重的中暑症状。”

Election rallies can be particularly vulnerable, because of the large crowds they involve. But there, too, are plenty of viable solutions. Aditya Valiathan Pillai, an adaptation specialist with the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, a research organization in Delhi, said attendees should be able to see real-time local temperatures, with color-coded risk levels. Water stations and shade and cooling centers can be set up. Not least, public agencies should pull out the stops with early warnings about heat.
选举集会由于人多，尤其容易出问题。但也有很多可行的解决方案。德里研究机构可持续未来合作组织的适应专家阿迪提亚·瓦利亚坦·皮莱说，与会者应该关注当地的实时温度，用颜色标记风险等级。可以建立水站、遮阳和降温中心。尤其重要的是，公共机构应该尽早发出有关高温的预警。

“We now have heat wave forecasts that are pretty accurate five days out,” Mr. Pillai said, “so this sort of advance awareness building is possible.”
“我们现在可以提前五天做出相当准确的热浪预报，所以这种提前警惕的做法是可能的，”皮莱说。

Sporting events have already been adapting to the dangers of extreme heat. Water breaks for players were introduced during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when the combination of heat, humidity and sun exposure led to a temperature of 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Officials moved the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from the summer months to November and December, when it is cooler.
体育赛事已经在适应极端高温的危险。2014年巴西世界杯期间，由于高温、潮湿和日晒的共同作用，比赛场地的温度达到了摄氏32度，因此为球员提供了比赛中的休息喝水时间。官方将2022年卡塔尔世界杯从夏季推迟到天气较为凉爽的11月和12月。

The Paris Olympics seems to be seeking some sort of balance. Some events, like the marathon, are starting earlier in the day, and water stations are supposed to be available for patrons.
巴黎奥运会似乎正在寻求某种平衡。马拉松等赛事将提前到当天较早时候开始，而且会为观众提供饮水站。

“Mega events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup have a duty of care to all who attend,” said Madeleine Orr, a professor at the University of Toronto and the author of the book “Warming Up: How Climate Change Is Changing Sport.”
“像奥运会和国际足联世界杯这样的大型赛事有义务关心所有参与者，”多伦多大学教授、《暖化——气候变化如何改变体育》(Warming Up: How Climate Change Is Changing Sport)一书的作者玛德琳·奥尔说。

“We’re talking about hydration breaks and cooling breaks,” she added, “opportunities for athletes and officials to access cooling towels and some shade or misting fans, and medical staff on standby to step in should somebody need additional care.”
“我们指的是补水和降温暂停时间，”她补充说，“让运动员和官员有机会使用降温毛巾和一些遮阳物或喷雾风扇，如果有人需要额外护理，医务人员要随时待命。”

For now, that may be enough. Many experts say that more radical shifts may need to follow. The Summer Olympics might have to become the Autumn Olympics. Similarly, elections in India may be pushed to cooler months, along with international tennis tournaments. School holidays could be rescheduled for weather. Summer jobs like painting houses may become spring jobs.
目前来说，这可能已经足够了。许多专家表示，可能还需要进行更彻底的改革。夏季奥运会可能不得不成为秋季奥运会。同样，印度的选举和国际网球锦标赛可能会被推到更凉爽的月份。学校假期可以根据天气重新安排。像粉刷房子这样的暑期工作可能会变成春季工作。

David Bowman, a climate scientist in Tasmania who wrote an article that attracted wide attention online during Australia’s 2020 bush fires calling for the end of the summer school holidays, said that people were already beginning to adapt in small ways. Umbrellas are becoming fashionable accessories for shade, shorts are becoming more acceptable at work and road workers are doing more at night.
塔斯马尼亚州的气候科学家戴维·鲍曼在澳大利亚2020年森林大火期间写了一篇文章，呼吁改变澳大利亚的学校暑假，在网上引起了广泛关注。他说，人们已经开始以小的方式适应。遮阳伞正在成为时尚配饰，短裤在工作中越来越被接受，道路工人在晚上工作的时间也越来越多。

Climate change could force big events to change even more.
气候变化可能会迫使大型活动发生更大的变化。

“All these disasters are like a cultural climate change price signal,” he said. “Sure, we can be stubborn and press on regardless of a changing climate — but, in the end, the climate will win.”
“所有这些灾难就像文化气候变化的价格信号，”他说。“当然，我们可以固执地坚持下去，不管气候如何变化——但最终，气候会获胜。”