Warning over mental health effects of floods in the UK
专家就英国洪水对心理健康的影响发出预警
Substantial work still needs to be done to protect houses from flood damage and to ensure homes do not dangerously overheat in summer as climate change intensifies storms and heatwaves in the UK. That is the key message from one of the country’s leading experts on climate change adaptation.
气候变化加剧了英国的暴雨和高温天气，为保护房屋免受洪灾和夏季高温的威胁，我们还需要做大量的工作，这是英国权威专家就气候变化适应问题所阐释的关键信息。
Speaking on the eve of the Climate Adaptation Summit, which opens tomorrow in the Netherlands, Julia King said that although some improvements had been made to Britain’s preparations for dealing with global heating, some important protection was still lacking.
气候适应峰会将于1月25日于荷兰召开，在会议前夕，茱莉亚·金表示尽管在应对全球变暖问题上英国的准备工作取得了一些进步，一些重要的保护工作仍然不到位。
“We have to do more to make houses more resilient to flood waters and we also have to deal with the issue of properties becoming worryingly overheated in summer,” said King, who is a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC). “These issues need to be addressed as key priorities as global warming continues.”
作为英国气候变化委员会成员的金表示：“我们必须采取更多措施增强房屋抗洪能力，而且我们也要应对夏季房屋过热的问题。”“随着全球变暖的持续，上述问题是工作的重中之重。”
King’s warning comes after many parts of the country were battling to recover from the devastating impact of Storm Christoph, which last week inundated swathes of northern England and Wales, destroying bridges, flooding retirement homes and forcing thousands to flee their houses. On Thursday, a total of 167 flood warnings were issued, including three “danger to life” notices.
上周“克里斯多夫”风暴使得北英格兰和威尔士的大片区域洪灾泛滥，冲毁了桥梁、淹没了养老院，迫使数千人搬家，目前英国的大部分区域都在进行灾后重建工作。在该背景下，金对此发出了预警。周四，共发布了167次洪水预警，包括三次“死亡威胁”警告。
Six of the UK’s wettest years on record have now occurred since 1998, with 2020 provisionally the sixth wettest since 1862, and scientists warn that they expect winters to become wetter and wetter as changes to the climate intensify.
英国六个记录在案的降水量最多的年份是自1998年以来出现的，2020年暂时成为1862年以来降水量排第六的年份，科学家预警：随着气候变化的加剧，冬天的降水量会越来越多。
King, a crossbench peer, stressed that many improvements – including the construction of flood barriers and gates – had already been carried out, or were in the planning stage, helping to tackle the rising risk of serious inundation affecting the UK. However many measures were still lacking.
作为上院中立议员的金强调到，许多改进措施已经落地或是正在计划阶段，其中包括修建防洪坝和防洪闸，从而解决英国日益严重的洪灾威胁。然而，还有许多措施仍然不到位。
These would include installing solid concrete ground floors, rather than wooden ones; fitting raised electric sockets; having raised sills on doors, and using waterproof plaster so a house can be cleaned and made habitable again as quickly as possible.
这包括为房屋一层安装坚固的混凝土地板，以代替原来的木质地板，抬高电插座的高度，抬高门槛，以及使用防水灰泥，这样房屋才能尽快被清理并适合居住。
“Not enough has been done to ensure people get help in dealing with this sort of thing,” King added. “The impact on mental health of having your home flooded is directly related to the extent of the damage caused, and the time it takes to repair it. So this needs to be addressed directly.”
金补充道：“为保障人们在应对此类问题时得到帮助，我们还需要做很多。”“房屋遭到洪灾所造成的心理健康影响与破坏的程度以及修复的时间是直接相关的，所以要快速解决该问题。”
