Threat Of Heat-related Illnesses Grow As North, West And Central India Face Heatwave

Intense heat wave continues to affect millions in Delhi and Central India along with parts of Pakistan. The Indian Meteorological Department said that intense heat waves will be experienced from April 27 across northern and central India.

This raises concerns because most people belonging to lower socioeconomic groups are not able to afford air-conditioners and also for those who work jobs that require them to do hard labour under the sun – for example farmers, construction workers, daily-wage labourers etc.

The summer heatwaves in India usually begin around May and sometimes are also reported in late April and last till early or mid-June. However, temperatures in April have broken 122-year-old records and the IMD warned that temperatures could further soar.

The situation is further exacerbated by below average rainfall in the months of March and April. India’s monsoons usually arrive in the first week of June but moderate rainfall in March and April in parts of northern and central India were fairly common.

The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in a report in 2020, pointed out that between 1901 and 2018, India’s average temperature rose by around 0.7°C. It also pointed out that the rise in temperature was influenced by greenhouse gases, thus connecting global warming to the recent rise in temperature.

The IMD classifies heatwave as an event where the air temperature becomes fatal to the human body when exposed. It is defined also based on the temperature thresholds over a particular region in terms of its actual temperature or its departure from normal temperatures recorded.

In plains, the IMD says it is a heatwave when the maximum temperature of a station reaches or crosses 40°C and for hilly or mountainous areas it is above 30°C.

India recorded the second-hottest March in 2022 and temperature soared to the highest level on record for the month of March. This raises fears of people dying from heat-related illnesses. Pakistan also faced similar heat waves this month. The Pakistani station of Dadu reached 47°C on Tuesday and Rajasthan’s Barmer recorded a temperature of 45.1°C.

Dadu’s temperature on Tuesday was the highest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere, breaking the 44.2°C temperature recorded in Senegal’s Matam earlier in February.

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