Russia’s record heat wave may already have taken 15,000 lives and cost the economy $15 billion, or 1 per cent of gross domestic product, as fires and drought ravage the country.
At least 7,000 people have probably died in Moscow as a result of the heat, and the nationwide death toll is likely to be at least twice that figure, according to Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground, a 15-year-old internet weather service that gathers information from around the world.
“The Russian population affected by extreme heat is at least double the population of Moscow, and the death toll in Russia from the 2010 heat wave is probably at least 15,000, and may be much higher,” Masters said late yesterday on his blog.
Russia’s worst heat wave on record may slice 1 per cent off of Russia’s $1.5 trillion economy this year because of lower agricultural output and reduced activity in other areas such as industry, Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC Holdings in Moscow, said in an e-mail today.
The country may harvest a third less grain than last year because of drought, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said yesterday. Companies such as automaker AvtoVAZ have curbed production, and restaurants in Moscow are seeing a decline in customers.