‘Bodies start to cook’: poor housing in remote communities puts lives at risk in northern Australia heatwave

<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/08/bodies-start-to-cook-poor-housing-in-remote-communities-puts-lives-at-risk-in-northern-australia-heatwave>

"Homes in remote communities that are so poorly insulated they rise to
temperatures that can “cook bodies” will put people’s lives at risk in the
coming days as a dangerous heatwave hits northern Australia.

Temperatures are expected to pass 40C in parts of the Northern Territory,
according to the Bureau of Meteorology, which has issued a heatwave warning for
regions including the Daly, Arnhem, Carpentaria, Gregory, Barkly, Lasseter and
Tanami.

Remote communities including Lajamanu, Daguragu and Mataranka are expected to
reach 45C between Friday and Sunday.

Simon Quilty, who has worked across various health sectors and communities in
the Northern Territory for 20 years, said thousands of homes could become
unsafe.

“The quality of the houses is appalling, the design, the construction, and the
[lack of] insulation. They are terribly designed and built houses,” Quilty
said.

In the 1980s the territory government made it so people in remote Indigenous
communities moved to a user-pays power card system – meaning many people find
cooling their house, especially in a heatwave, unaffordable, Quilty said."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics