st louis blues

All my sympathies to the folks in St Louis having troubles. It's interesting to me, however, that people in my former city are dying from heat that people in my current city deal with daily. Is it that Americans are so reliant on artificial cooling and electricity that they're more susceptible to drastic temperature changes? Are Thais just used to it? I feel kinda bad analyzing people's misery, as it's a subjective state, not to be taken lightly.
I'm worried about old friends there. 100 degrees, doesn't sound so bad to me. People here stay in the shade, drink a lot of rather warm water, shower 3 times a day, and just live with it. It's not a state of emergency, but a way of life. Old people here don't just die of it either. This could be because of the culture; their families take care of them, and keep them cool and watered. Interesting, that's all.