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Heatwave in eastern China forces students to seek shelter in libraries

After near-record temperatures raised concern about student and staff health, universities in eastern China scrambled with their dorms to install air conditioning. One university even let students sleep in cooler library.

Jimu News reported that Qingdao University, in Shandong, said it had upgraded its student accommodations over the summer holiday after one student suffered heat stroke.

The university did not say if the heatwave was to blame for the death of a member of staff who died Sunday morning. Jimu News reported that the staff member was a supervisor of dormitories.

On Monday, 28 locations in central Henan province and eastern Shandong province issued the most severe heat alerts.

The official Qingdao Daily reported that temperatures in some parts of Qingdao's coastal city soared to 40.5°C (104.9°F) at the weekend. This was just 0.5C lower than the highest temperature recorded since 1961.

Qingdao University did not respond immediately to a comment request from, but it was one of six colleges that announced plans to upgrade the student housing in recent days.

Yantai Nanshan University in Shandong said Monday that it will allow students to stay in the library overnight as it prepares to renovate its student halls.

Jimu News posted a video showing students sitting on the ground in air-conditioned stores to escape the heat.

China's electricity grid has been under pressure due to the heatwave. According to CCTV, the national electricity load reached a record of 1.47 billion kilowatts Friday due to an increase in demand for air conditioners.

These announcements will increase concerns about the preparedness of Chinese institutions for extreme weather, which scientists claim is exacerbated due to global warming.

China experienced its worst heatwave since 1961 in 2022. Many parts of the country were hit with a 79 day hot spell between mid-June and late August.

A report in The Lancet from 2023 states that there were 50,900 deaths related to heatwaves in China in that year.

At the time, no official death toll had been released. China does not keep a regular count of deaths due to heat. Reporting by Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo; editing by Andrew Heavens

(source: Reuters)