NewsTracker Answers for week of June 24, 2024

Q: More than 1,000 people died during Hajj this year as extreme heat hammered the nearly two million who took part in the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Every Muslim is required to make the pilgrimage once in their lifetime if they are able. Where is Saudi Arabia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Most of the dead came from Saudi Arabia’s nearest North African neighbor ...

A. Egypt

B. Iran

C. Jordan

D. Tunisia

A. Security and medical sources said Sunday that the Egyptian death toll had risen to 672 and another 25 were missing. Most of the deaths were among pilgrims not registered under the official system, and Egypt suspended licenses of 16 tourism companies which could face criminal prosecution.

Q: Temperatures as high as 124 degrees Fahrenheit also killed 236 pilgrims from the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country ...

A. Afghanistan

B. Indonesia

C. Iran

D. Pakistan

B. With more than 281 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most populous nation, and 87.4% of Indonesians follow Islam. Further pilgrim deaths were reported by Tunisia, Jordan, Iran, and Senegal, making this year's total toll at least 1,114 people, according to a tally by Reuters news service.

Q: Is this year’s Hajj pilgrimage the deadliest?

A. Yes

B. No

B. More than 2,400 pilgrims died in a stampede in 2015. The second-deadliest incident at Hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.

Q: Much of North America also suffered unseasonably high temperatures for several miserable days last week. What kills more people in the United States?

A. Earthquakes

B. Floods

C. Heat

D. Tornadoes

C. Heat takes more U.S. lives than hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or floods. It contributed to the deaths of more than 2,300 Americans last year, the most in 45 years of record-keeping. The number of U.S. heat-related deaths has more than doubled in the past five years.