Saudi prepares for another hajj menaced by extreme heat

Riyadh: The deaths of 1,300 pilgrims during the hajj successful Saudi Arabia past twelvemonth underscored the urgent request to mitigate dangers posed by utmost heat, with assemblage absorption an indispensable archetypal step, analysts say.

Temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) successful the beatified metropolis of Mecca past June arsenic 1.8 cardinal worshippers took portion successful the yearly rites, 1 of the 5 pillars of Islam.

Saudi officials said 83 percent of the 1,301 recorded fatalities did not person authoritative hajj permits and were truthful incapable to entree amenities meant to marque the hajj much bearable, including air-conditioned tents.

It was a high-profile illustration of the havoc wrought by vigor successful 2024, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service said connected Friday was the hottest twelvemonth ever recorded.

The immense bulk of hajj pilgrims travel from abroad, and diplomats progressive successful their countries' responses to past year's situation told AFP astatine the clip that astir deaths were heat-related.

While Riyadh has not elaborate preparations for this year's pilgrimage -- inactive 5 months distant -- authorities volition nary uncertainty privation to debar a repeat, said Abderrezak Bouchama of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah International Medical Research Center.

“I deliberation they volition supra each trim the hazard of amerciable pilgrims,“ said Bouchama, who has worked with the Saudi authorities for much than 3 decades connected reducing vigor deaths.

“I deliberation they’ve learnt their lesson, truthful we person to spot what benignant of measures they person taken for that.”

Other steps to marque vigor little perilous, specified arsenic introducing wearable sensors to rapidly observe vigor stress, are semipermanent projects that apt won't beryllium rolled retired by June, Bouchama added.

Saudi officials did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

'Perfect storm'

The hajj takes spot implicit 5 to six days, mostly outdoors.

It has seen a fig of disasters implicit the years, including successful 2015 erstwhile a stampede during the “stoning the devil” ritual successful Mina killed up to 2,300 people.

Responses successful the past person “typically focused connected infrastructure improvements and assemblage power measures”, said Karim Elgendy, an subordinate chap astatine the Chatham House deliberation tank.

“Based connected this pattern, we would expect authorities to attack the 2025 hajj with enhanced vigor mitigation infrastructure and perchance stricter capableness controls.”

Hajj permits are allocated to countries connected a quota strategy and distributed to individuals by lottery.

But adjacent for those who tin get them, the steep costs spur galore to effort the hajj without a permit, though they hazard apprehension and deportation if caught.

The instauration of a wide tourism visa successful 2019 has made it easier for each foreigners, including permit-less pilgrims, to participate the country.

Sealing disconnected introduction points to Mecca is “very difficult”, meaning Saudi authorities should expect irregular pilgrims again this year, said Umer Karim, an adept connected Saudi authorities astatine the University of Birmingham.

Saudi authorities “need to marque arrangements not conscionable for registered numbers but besides for further numbers”, peculiarly cooling and exigency wellness facilities, helium said.

Yet Elgendy stressed past year’s deaths were the merchandise of “an unprecedented cleanable tempest of biology conditions”, not conscionable a strain connected resources caused by unregistered pilgrims.

On apical of precocious temperatures, “the summertime solstice timing meant pilgrims faced maximum prima vulnerability during outdoor rituals”, helium said.

The hajj's timing is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar and volition determination guardant astir 11 days successful the Gregorian calendar, meaning this twelvemonth it volition again autumn during the scorching Saudi summer.

'Extreme danger'

Authorities were pursuing heat-mitigation measures astatine beatified sites agelong earlier past year's deaths.

Near the Kaaba, the achromatic cubic operation successful the Grand Mosque successful Mecca towards which each Muslims pray, air-conditioned spaces let pilgrims to chill off, and a climate-controlled pathway connects the hills of Safa and Marwa wrong the mosque compound.

Since 2023, roads utilized by the faithful person been covered successful a achromatic cooling worldly that Saudi officials accidental reduces the somesthesia of the asphalt by 20 percent.

Volunteers besides administer h2o and umbrellas and connection proposal to pilgrims connected avoiding hyperthermia, portion misting systems and air-conditioned buying malls supply impermanent alleviation betwixt prayers.

“Air conditioning is the lone effectual measurement to support against utmost heat,“ said Bouchama, calling for mobile cooling units to beryllium deployed among pilgrims.

“Drinking h2o helps to rehydrate, but it is not enough. You person to get retired of the heat.”

Even if specified steps aren't successful spot by this year's hajj successful June, they are inactive worthy pursuing, helium said.

While the pilgrimage volition yet displacement to the cooler wintertime season, alleviation volition beryllium temporary.

A 2019 survey published by the diary Geophysical Research Letters said due to the fact that of clime alteration and the timing of the hajj, vigor accent for pilgrims volition transcend the “extreme information threshold” from 2047 to 2052, and 2079 to 2086.