Mecca Burning: Pilgrims Dying In The Heat Is A Climate Alarm For Us All

-Analysis-

PARIS — Officially, more than 1,300 deaths have been reported due to heat exceeding 51 degrees Celsius (125 °F) during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, over the past week. When such a large number of casualties occur at an event of this magnitude, questions must be raised about the organization of this central moment in the lives of the Muslim faithful — as well as questions about rising temperatures.

The Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj, attracts some two million worshippers from all over the world each year. It poses logistical, security (there have been terrorist attacks in the past) and financial challenges — and increasingly, there is a climate-related emergency. The temperatures are proving to be unbearable for the elderly and most physically vulnerable.

Saudi authorities are aware of the problem: they have installed water misters on the main thoroughfares that pilgrims walk, and recommended the use of protective measures, and indeed, photos show seas of umbrellas shielding people from the scorching sun. They have also imposed visitor quotas, which appears one of the causes of the tragedy.

Mecca tragedy 

This weekend, it was reported that the Egyptian government revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that organized unauthorized trips to Mecca. To bypass the quotas, these shady agencies take Hajj candidates before the restrictions take effect and abandon them to complete the pilgrimage on foot via alternative routes.

Saudi authorities claim that most of the victims are unauthorized pilgrims forced to walk kilometers in the oppressive heat. Half of the 1,300 deaths are Egyptians.

This cynical business practice is not new. What is new are the climatic conditions that turn these rule-bending arrangements into death sentences. This is the real alarm bell sounded by the Mecca tragedy.

Will we keep burying our heads in the sand?

Unfortunately, these temperatures are not exceptional. Each year, more countries experience temperature peaks above 50 degrees, making life increasingly difficult and dangerous for people’s health.

New records

The countries in question include many in Asia—India and Pakistan were among the first to record these records—as well as certain regions of China. They are also found in the Middle East: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq… and even Mexico, which reached a peak of 51 degrees. The Mediterranean region is threatened, with summer temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees: Algeria and Morocco have already exceeded 50 degrees this year.

These are not expert predictions but actual temperatures, the highest since meteorological records began. We can keep burying our heads in the sand and ignore them; we can remain indifferent to the deaths in Mecca because it’s a place we’ll never go.

But it is undeniable that large parts of our planet are becoming less habitable, perhaps uninhabitable tomorrow. This should be the primary topic of global discussion and mobilization, but it is evident that, as former French President Jacques Chirac said 22 years ago at the Climate Conference in Johannesburg, “Our home is burning and we look elsewhere”