Spain sets up national network of climate shelters as heatwaves become ‘the new normal’
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Spain is setting up a nationwide network of climate shelters ahead of next summer, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday.
A series of government buildings will offer people refuge from the increasingly intense heatwaves the country has been experiencing during the hottest months of the year.
The network will incorporate climate shelters that have already been set up in Barcelona and the Basque Country.
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These are particularly vital in urban areas. "The heat island effect is intensified in these heatwaves and usually happens in cities," data scientist Manuel Banza told Euronews Green.
"This is because we have cities that are densely built, and we have a lot of tarmac that absorbs the sun, and at the end of the day, we see that at six or seven in the evening, it's still possible to be very hot, even though it's no longer sunny, because the ground has absorbed it.”
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