Escaping the Heat

There has been a lot of concern over heat waves. I have once been caught in a heat wave where there was no relief. Walls were hot to the touch. Every item of furniture was hot. The wind was hot. The shade was hot. Then the water supply failed. When it came on again -- fed through a big black PVC pipe -- it was too hot to touch. OBSERVATION: How much heat can people survive, without relief? Not much. What if a city should be hit by a heat wave, and methods of relief should fail? Water, electricity, shade. Recently, in some places, people only found relief through massive mobilisation. The European heat wave of 2003 killed up to 50,000 people. That may be small in comparison with what seems possible today.