ZURICH: Authorities failed to grasp the scale of risk to human life posed by heatwaves, the CEO of reinsurance company Swiss Re was quoted as saying on Sunday, as Europe faces mounting deaths linked to extreme summer temperatures. Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, has reported thousands of excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave, most of them people aged 65 and above. France and Spain have been particularly hard hit by the heat in recent weeks.

ZURICH: Authorities failed to grasp the scale of risk to human life posed by heatwaves, the CEO of reinsurance company Swiss Re was quoted as saying on Sunday, as Europe faces…

Europe's low heat infrastructure has the research arm concerned, with only about 20% of European households having air conditioning.