‘Silent killer’: more than half of heatwave deaths are in disadvantaged areas – now Australian councils are fighting back
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“Extreme heat is a silent killer,” says Krista Milne, one of two “chief heat officers” recently appointed by the City of Melbourne. “That’s not really understood by the community because of the lack of visual cues.”
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In Greater Geelong, the local council has backed a pilot project to create “climate safe rooms” inside the homes of low-income households. This included installing insulation, air conditioning and solar panels to offset the cost. Advocates of the project hope to expand this to more than a 1,000 homes.
Deaths from heat are disproportionately high among people who work outside, the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, those who are socially isolated and people who don’t have access to a cool space for relief.
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These differences show how different inequalities start to intersect and compound – personal health, housing standards, tree cover and access to amenities such as libraries and transport can all be correlated in some ways. Similar patterns can be seen in exposure to air pollution and Covid outbreaks earlier in the pandemic.
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