PROLONGED PERIODS OF UNUSUAL HOT WEATHER MAY LEAD TO SYSTEM DISTURBANCES OF MANY KINDS INCLUDING CRITICAL WATER SHORTAGE AND POWER FAILURE WITH MANY ASSOCIATED CONSEQUENCES IN DYNAMIC INTERACTION.

THIS CAN LEAD TO AN ACCUMULATION OF STRESSORS CASCADING INTO A MAJOR EMERGENCY FOR THE REGION AND WAY BEYOND THAT, OF AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE.

ALSO, IN THE ABSENCE OF ARTIFICIAL COOLING , COMPLICATED BY RELATIVE WATER SHORTAGE MOST OF THE STANDARD TREATMENT METHODS FOR HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEATSTROKE CAN NOT BE APPLIED.

THEY DEPEND TO A LARGE EXTEND ON COOLING AND PLENTY OF WATER.

PREVENTION OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE UNDER WORST CASE SCENARIOS THUS BECOMES AS IMPORTANT AS PREVENTION OF SMALLPOX AND OTHER MORTAL DISEASES.

ONE RELATIVELY SIMPLE WAY TO KEEP THE BODY COOL UNDER HEAT WAVE CONDITIONS IS CONSTANTLY TO WEAR THIN CLOTHES, HEAD AND NECK WEAR ALL MORE OR LESS SOAKED IN WATER, USING THE PERIODICAL COLD DRIP METHOD.

THE BODY WILL BE COOLED AS THE WATER IN THE CLOTHES EVAPORATES WHICH WILL ALSO REPLACE NATURAL SWEATING REDUCING THE NEED FOR MUCH EXTRA DRINKING TO SOME EXTEND.

THIS PROCEDURE SHOULD BE FOLLOWED PREVENTIVELY AT A PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE, DEPENDING ON THE TARGET POPULATION, WHEN HEAT WAVE IS EXPECTED.

IT SHOULD BE CONTINUED UNTIL SUBJECTS ARE ACCLIMATIZED AND UNTIL THEY ARE FULLY ACQUAINTED WITH THE PROCEDURE AND KNOW THEY CAN IMMEDIATELY INITIATE IT WHEN THEY BEGIN TO FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE.

WE WILL DISCUS WAYS TO MAKE CLOTHES WET USING A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF WATER.

PROBLEM IS :

HOW CAN HEAT WAVE EMERGENCIES IN VULNERABLE POPULATIONS BE PREVENTED UNDER RELATIVELY PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS?

TO INVESTIGATE THIS WE HAVE CONCENTRATED ON A SINGLE EXPERIMENT REPEATED OVER SEVERAL DAYS.

EXPLICIT PROBLEM IS : HOW CAN HEAT SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS AT HOME PREVENT HEAT WAVE EMERGENCIES.

MATERIAL AND METHODS WE USED : THE MOST COMMON HEAT SENSITIVE INDIVIDUAL IS THE OLDER (65+) HUMAN, WITH A MEDICAL BACKGROUND LEADING TO TEMPERATURE CONTROL COMPLEXITY.

THIS IS OUR TARGET POPULATION.

IN EXPLORATIVE EXPERIMENTS WE HAVE STUDIED THE REACTIONS OF ONE SUBJECT AS AN ILLUSTRATION.

A TOWEL WAS PLACED OVER HEAD AND SHOULDERS CAPTURING EVERY DROP OF WATER AND LEADING IT SLOWLY OVER NECK AND SHOULDERS AND THE REMAINDER OF THE BODY.

THE CLOTHES AND TOWEL WHERE KEPT ON AND KEPT SEMI- SOAKED BY PERIODICALLY SUBMERGING THE TOWEL IN A BOWL OF WATER AND REPLACING IT OVER HEAD AND SHOULDERS FOR THE REST OF THE DAY.

THE WATER SLOWLY FLOWING DOWN FROM THE SOAKED TOWEL WAS SUFFICIENT TO KEEP ALL CLOTHES IN A SEMI SOAKED CONDITION.

AFTER A FEW HOURS SUBJECT EVEN BEGAN TO FEEL DISTINCTLY COLD, AT LEAST COLDER THEN WAS COMFORTABLE.

WHEN SUBJECT EXPERIMENTALLY CHANGED HIS WET CLOTHES HE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY FELT LIKE STEPPING INTO AN ALIEN HOT AND SUFFOCATING WORLD WHICH WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR SUBJECT TO ENDURE WITHOUT THE WET CLOTHES OR OTHER FORMS OF COOLING.

THIS OF COURSE REQUIRES SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS, FOR EXAMPLE HAVING TISSUE PAPER CONSTANTLY AT HAND TO REMOVE WATER DROPS ON SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS (e.g. COMPUTERS, PAPERWORK). EXTREME CAUTION IS OBVIOUSLY REQUIRED WITH ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES.

THE ABOVE DISCOMFORTS SEEM SERIOUS ENOUGH TO MAKE THE ENTIRE PROCEDURE LUDICROUS.

IT MUST HOWEVER BE REMEMBERED THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS SITUATION :

THE EXPOSURE OF A SUBJECT TO A TEMPERATURE WHICH FOR SUBJECT WOULD NORMALLY HAVE BEEN UNBEARABLE WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL COOLING (AIR-CONDITIONING, ICE, A COLD BATH) OR ARTIFICIAL VENTILATION (FAN).

ALSO IT IS INFERRED THAT THE ABOVE PROCEDURE COULD BE APPLIED IN MUCH HOTTER TEMPERATURES THEN 32C.

- WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PREVENTIVELY KEEPING CLOTHES CONTINUOUSLY SEMI-SOAKED USING COLD DRIPPING WHEN REQUIRED - .

OUR REFERENCES START WITH SEARCH RESULTS WE OBTAINED BY SELECTING PAGES USING THE GOOGLE AND ALTAVISTA SEARCH ENGINES.

THE QUERY WORDS WE USED ARE SHOWN IN THE SEARCH WORD FRAME.

THIS IS THE WINDOW BEHIND THE WORD GOOGLE.

IN THAT CASE THE SEARCH RESULTS ON THE LIST CONTAIN THE EXACT PHRASE .

WHEN QUOTATION MARKS ARE NOT SHOWN , THE SEARCH RESULTS CONTAIN ALL THE WORDS IN THE FRAME BUT IN RANDOM ORDER.

WHEN YOU MOUSE CLICK ON ONE OF THE GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS PHRASES BELOW, YOU GET INTO THE GOOGLE FIRST PAGE WITH THE RELEVANT SEARCH RESULTS.

THEY ARE SEARCH RESULTS OF ARTICLES WE FOUND MOST RELEVANT (AFTER SUPERFICIAL AND HASTY READING).

WITH A RED ARROW WE HAVE MARKED SEARCH RESULTS WHICH WE HAVE USED AS A REFERENCE OR WHICH WE FOUND PARTICULARLY RELEVANT.

THIS CHOICE IS FOR OUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY AND SHOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE REGARDED AS AN OBJECTIVE CRITERION FOR RELEVANCE.

THE REFERENCES 1 TO 6 BELOW ARE RANKED IN THE ORDER WE HAVE (SUPERFICIALLY) CONSULTED FOR THIS ARTICLE.