http://www.gothamist.com/2006/08/10/its_the_third_w.php All comments for It's the Third World After All en-us 2007 arts_jen Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:33:04 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss jencarlson@gothamist.com jencarlson@gothamist.com 60 http://www.gothamist.com/2006/08/10/its_the_third_w.php#comment-288343 http://www.gothamist.com/2006/08/10/its_the_third_w.php#comment-288343 Comments Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:11:11 -0500 <p>Actually, you can argue that heat wave deaths in urban areas are closer to being First World natural disasters, because the elderly in First World cities tend to live in greater isolation. It's more likely that someone will check up on grandpa in Third World countries because of both greater crowding and more tightly knit communities. Don't forget that Western Europe saw at least 35,000 heat wave deaths in 2003: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Heat_Wave_of_2003 An equivalent death rate in NYC in 2006 would see some 800 deaths. We're not doing that badly if we're "only" at a couple dozen. </p>