The heat kills quietly, over days.
The enemy isn't a dramatic moment, but the cumulative load over several hot days and tropical nights. Switzerland's deadliest natural hazard claimed around 623 lives in 2022, close to a thousand in the extreme summer of 2003 — almost all over 65. It practically never strikes the acting person, but the vulnerable one in the household: the grandmother living alone, whose sense of thirst kicks in too late and whose decline is noticed too late.
No blackout — the hazard is the heat itself.
Unlike a power cut, there's no technical breakdown here: in Switzerland a heatwave does not trigger a widespread blackout, the infrastructure stress stays local. The adversary is the heat itself and one's own misjudgement of its invisibility. The strongest lesson lies in the nights: a tropical night doesn't restore — it drains. Whoever actively uses it to cool down, rather than sleeping through it, turns around the wave's greatest burden.
What really happens in 72 hours
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Friday — The announcement.
MeteoSwiss warns of level 3: three days above 25 degrees daily mean, tropical nights with no cooling. The course is set now — shade outside or open the windows, stock up drinks, involve grandmother. Whoever airs out now instead of darkening charges the flat for the whole wave.
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Night into Saturday — Tropical night 1.
The minimum temperature stays above 20 degrees. The body doesn't come down, the flat gives back the day's heat. Whoever cross-ventilates and sleeps in the coolest room recovers — whoever sleeps through it begins the next day weaker.
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Saturday — The hot day.
35 degrees, the midday heat is the most dangerous. Drink, even without thirst; avoid exertion; check on grandmother. Her condition is decided now — listless, slowed, having drunk too little.
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Night into Sunday — Tropical night 2.
The second night without cooling hits harder than the first: exhaustion adds up, the circulation reaches its limit. It's exactly this accumulation that makes the heatwave so dangerous.
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Sunday / Monday — Peak and turn.
38 degrees, grandmother's crisis: confusion, hot dry skin — heatstroke, emergency 144. Whoever recognises the signs and calls in time saves her life. On Monday a thunderstorm front breaks the wave.
The deadliest mistakes
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Leaving the windows open by day.
The classic trap. The warm outside air heats the flat instead of cooling it — once charged, the masonry gives the heat back at night too. The right way: windows closed by day and shaded outside, air out only at night and early. Exterior sun protection keeps out 75–90 percent of the heat.
Protects you: Protection in heat and drought Hazard: Heat and drought
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Not checking on the older person living alone regularly.
Around 90 percent of heat deaths are over 65 — and in them the sense of thirst kicks in too late. Whoever doesn't look in on the vulnerable person daily notices the decline too late. Firm arrangements and daily contact are the decisive early warning.
Protects you: Family emergency plan Home medicine cabinet
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Dismissing confusion as mere tiredness.
Confusion plus hot, dry skin isn't fatigue — it's heatstroke, an emergency. Whoever plays it down, “just tired, a glass of water”, loses the minutes that lethality hangs on. At these signs: call 144 at once and cool aggressively.
Protects you: First aid: heatstroke Protection in heat and drought
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Drinking too little and laying in the supply too late.
Thirst comes too late to rely on. At least 1.5 litres a day, more in the heat, a glass every hour — water or unsweetened tea, not alcohol or heavily sugared drinks. And lay in the drink supply before you have to shop in the midday heat.
Protects you: Build an emergency supply Treating drinking water
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“Just for a moment” in the hot car.
In full sun a parked car turns into an oven within minutes — deadly for small children and dogs, because dogs cannot sweat. Never leave a child or an animal alone in the vehicle, not even “just for a moment” and not in the shade. At a stranger's car: have the owner paged, then the police — break the window only in a genuine emergency.
Protects you: Protection from heat and drought First aid: heatstroke
Radio in the blackout — your fallback
In a heatwave no communication breaks down — here what counts is that you read the warnings and reach the most vulnerable. Four channels carry, in the game as in reality:
- MeteoSwiss — Heat warning. The official warning by levels (since 2021 based on the daily mean temperature, the nights factored in). Level 3 means a daily mean ≥ 25 degrees on at least three days — the signal to prepare the flat and your relatives in earnest.
- The call to the vulnerable person. The most important channel — and the one most easily forgotten. A daily call or visit to the grandmother living alone is the documented early warning; but on the phone alone you can't hear how bad things really are.
- Alertswiss & authorities. Alertswiss and the cantonal heat plans bundle the behavioural recommendations: avoid exertion, cool the body and drink ≥ 1.5 litres, keep the heat out of living spaces — the three golden rules of the FOPH.
- 144 — the emergency call in heatstroke. At confusion and hot, dry skin every minute counts: call 144 at once and cool aggressively until the rescue arrives. The emergency call at the right moment is the difference between hospital and catastrophe.
Remember (in the game as in a real emergency): windows closed and shaded outside by day, cross-ventilate at night and early. Drink every hour, even without thirst; avoid exertion in the midday heat. Check on the most vulnerable every day. And at confusion plus hot, dry skin: call 144 at once and cool — that's heatstroke.
More in our radio section: Protection in heat and drought First aid: heatstroke Situation in Switzerland
Frequently asked questions
Is the scenario realistic?
The sequence follows MeteoSwiss warning level 3 (daily mean ≥ 25 degrees on several days, tropical night = minimum temperature ≥ 20 degrees) and the documented reality: heat is Switzerland's deadliest natural hazard, around 623 deaths in 2022, almost all over 65. Fictional are the specific flat, the characters and the exact course. The reality anchor matters: in Switzerland a heatwave does not trigger a widespread blackout — the infrastructure stress stays local.
Why is the night so important?
Because a tropical night — the minimum temperature stays above 20 degrees — won't let the body cool down. Unlike usual, the night then doesn't restore, it drains, and the effect adds up over several nights. Whoever actively uses the night to cross-ventilate and darken and sleeps in the coolest room turns around the wave's greatest burden. Whoever sleeps through it begins each day weaker.
Does a fan help in great heat?
Up to about 35 degrees room air, yes — the draught aids evaporation. Above that it becomes counterproductive: it blows hot air onto the skin and promotes dehydration, especially in older people. A fan doesn't lower the room temperature. More effective is the trio of exterior shading, windows closed by day and airing at night.
How do I recognise heatstroke — and what to do?
The key is the combination of a disturbance of consciousness (confusion to unconsciousness) and hot, often dry skin. This is an emergency: call 144 at once and cool aggressively — douse with water, damp compresses on neck, armpits and groin, fan. Don't give fluids if consciousness is impaired, and no fever reducers.
Does the game store data?
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Why does the heat almost always strike the older person and not me?
Because older people are the main victim group: their sense of thirst kicks in too late, they drink too little without noticing, and their circulation regulates the heat less well. Over 90 percent of heat deaths are over 65. The acting, younger person usually comes through the wave — unless they overestimate themselves and collapse under exertion in the peak heat.