Students shelter in libraries, supermarkets as heatwave hits eastern China

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The heatwave piled pressure onto China’s power grid. The national electricity load surged to a record on July 4 as demand for air-conditioning spiked.

PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIJING – Universities in eastern China scrambled to upgrade their dorms with air-conditioning, and one let students sleep in cooler libraries, after near record temperatures raised concerns about the health of students and staff.

One student at Qingdao University in Shandong suffered from heat stroke, and the school would upgrade its student accommodation over the summer break, Jimu News, an arm of state-run Hubei Daily, reported.

One member of staff there died on the morning of July 5 after showing signs of “physical distress”, the university added without saying whether that was linked to the heatwave.

The staff member was a dormitory supervisor, Jimu News said.

A total of 28 locations across central Henan and eastern Shandong provinces issued their most severe alerts for extreme heat on July 7.

Parts of the coastal city of Qingdao saw temperatures soar to 40.5 deg C over the weekend, just 0.5 deg C below the highest recorded there since records began in 1961, according to the official Qingdao Daily.

Qingdao University, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, was one of at least six colleges to announce plans to upgrade student accommodation in recent days.

Yantai Nanshan University, also in Shandong, said on July 7 it would let students stay overnight in libraries as it prepared to work on the student halls.

Video footage posted by Jimu News showed scores of students sitting on the floor in air-conditioned supermarkets to escape the