The numbers of hypothermia in Hungary are shocking

By February 5th, the number of hypothermia victims in Hungary has risen to 122 since the cold days of last September.

In the last twenty days, 27 people have died, most of them having lived in unheated flats – announced the Sunday statement of the Hungarian Social Forum (MSZF).

According to the aggregated data of the Hungarian Social Forum, by the end of January, 89 people had frozen to death in Hungary since October of last year.

The Human Rights Forum previously reported that 54 people died in hypothermia by the end of December, so the latest figure means 35 people have died in the first month of the year.

As stated in the April report of the MSZF, 175 people froze to death in the winter of 2019-2020. By comparison, it also reported the latest data from the Central Statistical Office that in 2019, 193 people lost their lives due to a freezing cold throughout the year.

According to the Social Forum, nearly 9,000 people have been frozen to death since the regime change. The Forum has identified the main cause of loss of life as homelessness due to mass evictions, lack of social rental housing, neglect of health and social care, especially care for the elderly and impoverished.

In mid-January, due to the great cold, Miklós Kásler, head of the Ministry of Human Resources, ordered the issuance of a so-called red code to protect homeless people’s lives. Still, Miklós Vecsei, vice-president of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, also specifically warned that in recent years, the majority of victims had died in their own unheated houses.

As we wrote before, state secretary for social affairs Attila Fülöp stated during a press conference, that the “red code” alert requires any residential care institution to accommodate homeless people if the network of homeless shelters fills up, more details HERE.