Taiwan's health ministry is reporting heat-related illnesses in September have far surpassed those from last year, in line with global summer heat records.
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00:00Keeping out of the sun, people in Taiwan have been suffering all summer long as extreme
00:05temperatures hit the country, causing many to fall ill.
00:09The health ministry reported that hundreds of people sought treatment for heat-related
00:12illnesses this summer, with each month exceeding the previous year's report.
00:17And that trend is on track to continue in September.
00:21The heat is in line with global trends.
00:23According to the EU's Copernicus climate report, this summer marked the hottest year on record,
00:29with surface temperature anomalies even higher than in 2023, meaning that temperatures are
00:33rising far above the average.
00:36But the above-average heat is now a new normal, and people around the globe say they have
00:40no choice but to find ways to deal with it.
00:44Farmers in Japan risk their lives out in the summer heat to tend to their crops.
00:59In Greece, wildfires blazed through forest land near the capital, Athens, causing thousands
01:14to evacuate.
01:15Climate experts say hot weather and less rain have increased risks to humans, and are reminding
01:20people that these risks, much like climate change, are caused firstly by the human impact
01:25on the environment.
01:27We have created cities that might not be exactly in the right place and in the right type,
01:37and we keep dealing with the consequences.
01:42And people will continue to feel the impacts on their daily lives, as temperatures continue
01:46to rise, with no signs of relief in sight.
01:49Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.