RIYADH — The deaths of 1,300 pilgrims during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia last year underscored the urgent need to mitigate dangers posed by extreme heat, with crowd management an essential first step, analysts said.
RIYADH — The deaths of 1,300 pilgrims during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia last year underscored the urgent need to mitigate dangers posed by extreme heat, with crowd management an essential first step, analysts said.
Temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius in the holy city of Mecca last June as 1.8 million worshippers took part in the annual rites, one of the five pillars of Islam.Saudi officials said 83 percent of the 1,301 recorded fatalities did not have official Hajj permits and were therefore unable to access amenities meant to make the Hajj more bearable, including air-conditioned tents.It was a high-profile example of the havoc wrought by heat in 2024, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Friday was the hottest year ever recorded.The vast majority of Hajj pilgrims come from abroad, and diplomats involved in their countries' responses to last year's crisis told AFP at the time that most deaths were heat-related.While Riyadh has not detailed preparations for this year's pilgrimage — still five months away — authorities will no doubt want to avoid a repeat, said Abderrezak Bouchama of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah International Medical Research Center.'I think they will above all reduce the risk of illegal pilgrims,' said Bouchama, who has worked with the Saudi government for more than three decades on reducing heat deaths.'Perfect storm'The Hajj takes place over five to six days, mostly outdoors.It has seen a number of disasters over the years, including in 2015 when a stampede during the 'stoning the devil' ritual in Mina killed up to 2,300 people.Responses in the past have 'typically focused on infrastructure improvements and crowd control measures,' said Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank.'Based on this pattern, we would expect authorities to approach the 2025 Hajj with enhanced heat mitigation infrastructure and potentially stricter capacity controls.'Hajj permits are allocated to countries on a quota system and distributed to individuals by lottery.Even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs spur many to attempt the Hajj without a permit, though they risk arrest and deportation if caught.Sealing off entry points to Mecca is 'very difficult,' meaning Saudi authorities should expect irregular pilgrims again this year, said Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.Saudi authorities 'need to make arrangements not just for registered numbers but also for additional numbers,' particularly cooling and emergency health facilities, he said.Yet Elgendy stressed last year's deaths were the product of 'an unprecedented perfect storm of environmental conditions,' not just a strain on resources caused by unregistered pilgrims.The Hajj's timing is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar and will move forward about 11 days in the Gregorian calendar, meaning this year it will again fall during the scorching Saudi summer.'Extreme danger'Authorities were pursuing heat-mitigation measures at holy sites long before last year's deaths.Near the Kaaba, the black cubic structure in the Grand Mosque in Mecca toward which all Muslims pray, air-conditioned spaces allow pilgrims to cool off, and a climate-controlled pathway connects the hills of Safa and Marwa inside the mosque compound.Volunteers also distribute water and umbrellas and offer advice to pilgrims on avoiding hyperthermia, while misting systems and air-conditioned shopping malls provide temporary relief between prayers.'Air conditioning is the only effective measure to protect against extreme heat,' said Bouchama, calling for mobile cooling units to be deployed among pilgrims.
Arabia Gears Up For Hajj Amid Severe Heat
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