Chirac

Magnolia_Fan

Could anyone tell me has Jacques Chirac made any changes since last summer? in regards to the elderly living in France?
I thought it was very strange that that story was out of the spotlight so quickly I mean 9/11 is still in the papers 3 years on and will be for alot longer but what was it like 9,000 people killed in France last summer? Could anyone tell me has the French Goverment invested in Air Conditioners or more aid workers for the elderly? Does anyone know

I felt pretty angry when Chirac came out on T.V and asked French people to check on any elderly neighbours they might have...Its a sad state of affairs if you have to tell me people to that

Tommy Vercetti

Lucky it was France and not the US, Bush would probably try to invade the sun.

Mighty_Mouse

Your blaming the government for the freakiest of freaky weather to hit the country in hundreds of years? Of coarse they were completely under-prepared for it. I thought it was a shame at the time but I didnt blame the french government. Am I wrong?

raphaelS

Yes, they setup an emergency plan, it will be ready for this summer.

Also Meteo France (the French Met Éireann) had included heat waves in the list of emergency (with storm, snow...), link to the map:
http://www.meteo.fr/meteonet/vigilance/index.html
This is the alert map for: wind, rain, storm, snow/ice and heat.

Here some links you can translate with Google about the plan:
http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Le%20plan%20canicule%20de%20Philippe%20Douste-Blazy

Raphael

Gurgle

The french have a wonderfully effective method of bringing their government to heel. They stop work, bring the country to a halt & march up and down the Champs Elysee with their demands on placards.

We could learn a lot from them.

Magnolia_Fan

I wouldn't just blame the goverment I'd blame the Frech people themselves for not having the common decency to check on elderly neighbours whilst it was globally publicised so many were dying

Magnolia_Fan

Also the post wasn't about "Bush" or "America", but I feel it goes to show the mentality of alot of posters on this site that you'd go that way.

gandalf

Originally posted by Magnolia_Fan
Could anyone tell me has Jacques Chirac made any changes since last summer? in regards to the elderly living in France?
I thought it was very strange that that story was out of the spotlight so quickly I mean 9/11 is still in the papers 3 years on and will be for alot longer but what was it like 9,000 people killed in France last summer? Could anyone tell me has the French Goverment invested in Air Conditioners or more aid workers for the elderly? Does anyone know

I felt pretty angry when Chirac came out on T.V and asked French people to check on any elderly neighbours they might have...Its a sad state of affairs if you have to tell me people to that

Well change the French Government to the Irish Government. Can you see the Irish Government giving away free air conditioners etc I think not. They can't even provide a decent health service for the majority of people in this country.

As regards the check on your neighbours comment I think it was very valid, how many people even know who their neighbours are these days let alone talk to them etc. That was a simple request that probably would help save a few lives.

I think the main reason this fell out of the media spotlight was that the deaths occured in ones and twos, there was no big bodycount in one location and there wasn't a "bad guy" that could be blamed and bombed back.

Gandalf.

Gurgle

Can you see the Irish Government giving away free air (what I saw)

Shhh, 'they' read boards.
The air tax is coming, I tells ya.

chill

Originally posted by Magnolia_Fan
I wouldn't just blame the goverment I'd blame the Frech people themselves for not having the common decency to check on elderly neighbours whilst it was globally publicised so many were dying

Indeed - and the other major cause was the reduction in the working week being implemented across France that led to massive shortages in the health services.