Millions were exposed to a very dangerous heat wave at the beginning of the summer India and Pakistan, which led to electricity and water shortages, as annual oven-like temperatures hit South Asia.
In New Delhi, a burning dump choked residents for a third day on Thursday as temperatures topped 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in parts of the region. Forecasters warn that the weather will rise further this weekend.
Heat waves have killed more than 6,500 people in India Since 2010, scientists say climate change is making it more severe and frequent across southern Asia.
“This is the first time I have seen such terrible weather in April. We are usually ready for this in May and beyond, said Somaya Mehra, a 30-year-old housewife from Delhi, while she and her family thirstyly searched for cold drinks.
“Today we went out because of our anniversary but I will never go out. I have stopped sending my child to play.”
And imposed the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, with power outages in factories, with the consumption of air conditioners and fans skyrocketing.
Media reports said power plants were also facing shortages of coal, the main source of electricity in the country of 1.4 billion people.
Many areas are also reporting reduced water supplies which will worsen until the annual monsoon rains in June and July.
Water shortages will further affect farmers, including those who grow wheat, as India aims to boost exports to help alleviate global shortages caused by the war in Ukraine.
Many parts of India should not expect any relief in the coming days.
“Heat wave conditions are likely to prevail over the northern plains as well as central parts of the country throughout this week,” the Indian Meteorological Department said on Thursday, while “extreme heat wave conditions” were forecast for western Rajasthan on May 1-2. Weather review.
Temperatures are expected to reach 8°C higher than normal in parts of PakistanThe Pakistan Meteorological Society warned that mercury peaked at 48 degrees Celsius in parts of rural Sindh on Wednesday.
Farmers have to use water moderately in a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and accounts for about 40% of the workforce.
“Public health and agriculture in the country will face serious threats due to extreme temperatures this year,” Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said.
The Pakistani front desk said last month was the hottest on record since 1961.
With the advent of Ramadan, the heat makes fasting in both India and Pakistan even more difficult for Muslims, who avoid even water during daylight hours.
“Temperatures are rising rapidly in the country, and rising much earlier than usual,” India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said on Wednesday, adding that India had seen “increasing fire incidents in various places – in forests, important buildings and hospitals – in the past few days.” “.
In New Delhi, a 60-meter (200-foot) tall mountain of garbage has been blazing since Tuesday, as firefighting teams battled it with trucks loaded with sand and mud.
Hell, the toxic black smoke that engulfed the nearby areas, was the fourth such incident at the landfill site in the megacity of 20 million people in less than a month. Pradeep Kandelwal, former head of waste management in Delhi, said it was most likely caused by high temperatures which had accelerated the decomposition of organic waste.
“Dry and hot weather produces excess methane gas in landfills, which leads to the outbreak of such fires,” Khandelwal told AFP.
“Before human activities increased global temperatures, we would have seen the heat that hit India earlier this month roughly once every 50 years,” said Maryam Zakaria, of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
But now it’s a much more common occurrence – we can expect these high temperatures on average about once every four years. Until net emissions are stopped, they will continue to become more common.”
