PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.

There were so many corpses waiting to be admitted into the mortuaries that several hundred had to be stocked for more than a week in special tents or in a refrigerated warehouse close to the huge Rungis food center. Record high temperatures, though generally lower than those experienced in France, were registered in most of Europe, but the number of victims reported elsewhere was far from the incredible levels reached in France. Why?

The populations of southern and eastern countries are more accustomed to extremes. The fact is that, generally speaking, the southern half of France suffered much less than the north: There are even places where the number of dead was less than for the same period last year. It's true, too, that this country knows the highest life expectancy in the world after Japan and that the older the elderly are, the more fragile they are. Many of those who died recently probably would not have lived much longer even without the heat wave.