Frozen Lumps of Homeless Souls across Europe

The extreme weather across Europe is not an abrupt cataclysm and the chaos caused by it is not a far-fetched tragedy except the variation of its scale that may go to any length. The only startling thing in this regard is the catastrophic outcome which requires more effective strategy to cope with the regular hitting of this monster in a timely manner.

Rough sleeping is a social norm in some countries of Europe among homeless people who perish in winter snip like stray cats and dogs that roam about but are not seen any more during mega snow. Frozen lumps of homeless souls across Europe appear the fatal consequence of cold snap but rational approach notices relentless poverty under its imprint. The extreme weather extended across Europe claimed more than 550 lives. As temperature dropped to below -39C in some countries, dozens more are killed in weather-related accidents. Every patch of the continent shared this hazard proportional to its resources.

Ukraine remained hardest hit where 131 have died, most of them homeless people living on the streets. Fatalities continued to climb in this republic as temperatures plunged to below -30C (-22F). Keeping in view the plummeted temperatures across the country, the emergency ministry erected shelters though inadequate to deal with the scale of the problem. Homeless population in Ukraine is listed as 12,000 ‘though the figure may be much higher. ‘The reason that so many people are dying is simply because we have more poor people living on the streets,’ said Serhiy Taran, director of the International Democracy Institute, a Kiev think tank. Some analysts blame the high number of deaths among the homeless on what they regard as President Viktor Yanukovych’s misguided economic policies. Generally the government was blamed to have neglected its social obligations.

More than 62 died in Poland when the temperature fell to minus 24 Celsius at night in north-eastern parts of the country. At least 25 people have died in the Czech Republic where temperatures of minus 39.4C were recorded in the southwest along the German border. So far, 28 People have been killed in Bulgaria as a result of the weather, including eight who drowned when the icy waters of a small dam swept through their village of Biser in the southeast.

In France, police said the body of an 83-year-old man was found near a forest in the north-western town of Fougeres. It was at least the seventh death in the country believed to have been caused by deep cold or snow.

Serbians are used to this amount of snow but the real problem is the cold. In Serbia, 70,000 people remain cut off and 32 municipalities throughout the country have introduced emergency measures, according to senior emergency official Predrag Maric.

Bosnia recorded its eighth victim, after an 87-year-old woman died of hypothermia. Villages were cut off in Bosnia where helicopters were delivering baby food and aid packages to isolated villages in the eastern parts. There were problems in feeding cattle because of 2-metre snow paralysing access to cattle feed.

Some 215 Russians have died this year in a prolonged period of abnormally cold winter weather.

In Russia, 215 people died and 5,546 people suffered from hypothermia and frostbite, including 154 children, between January 1 and February 13, the ministry said in a statement.

While accustomed to frosty winters, Russia has seen 20 days of unusually cold weather, with the average temperature falling 7 to 14 degrees Celsius below average, the state weather service said.

In Moscow, the temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit) on Monday afternoon, the state weather service said.

Belarus, Turkey, Romania, Italy, Croatia, Germany and England have their own stories of distress due to harsh weather conditions.

Besides the loss of human lives, the sufferings have their own tragic shades. Travel had been disrupted across the whole of Europe. Flights were cancelled or delayed. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded, with some drivers forced to spend the night in their cars.

Half of the 1,300 scheduled flights at Heathrow were cancelled and some trains and Tube services also disrupted. Church Fenton, in North Yorkshire, reported heavy snowfall which contributed to more than 60 accidents on the region’s roads.

Freezing weather has led to a shortage of vital Russian gas supplies to several countries.

Relief attempts were made across the affected continent. In Bosnia and Serbia helicopters were used to airlift supplies to villages cut off by drifting snow and pick up people who needed evacuation. The cold weather has increased demand for gas, and the European Commission said Bulgaria, Slovakia, Austria, Hungry, Poland and Greece were now receiving normal import levels, while supplies to Romania, Germany and Italy were increasing.

Gritters were out in force in an attempt to make roads as safe as possible. Britain’s salt stocks stood at more than 2.4 million tonnes ‘a million more than last year. In London, a new shelter for rough sleepers has opened. A 55-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after injuring his spine in a sledging accident in Terrington, North Yorkshire. A 35-year-old woman was taken to hospital with hypothermia after being rescued from a frozen lake in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. London Ambulance Service experienced a surge in 999 calls with 2,500 in the twelve hours.

All this showed that the response from the governments was not frosty but inadequate particularly in some east European countries.

The extreme weather across Europe is not an abrupt cataclysm during February, traditionally the coldest month of winter. Even the chaos caused by it is not a far-fetched tragedy except the variation of its scale that may go to any length. The only startling thing in this regard is the catastrophic outcome which requires more effective strategy to cope with the regular hitting of this monster in a timely manner.

Food and shelter are the basic necessities of life which cannot be neglected on the flimsiest of pretexts. There is no better time to realize that human life is the most sacred consideration in the grand scheme of things. Using all the sources at their command, men at the helm must prioritize drastic reduction in widespread human suffering to ensure the survival of the weakest among the potential demonstration of life.
The writer is a freelance journalist, analyst and poet.