India and Pakistan heatwave is 'testing the limits of human survivability'
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
January 28, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2023
India and Pakistan heatwave is 'testing the limits of human survivability'

Environment

TBS Report
02 May, 2022, 04:20 pm
Last modified: 02 May, 2022, 04:30 pm

Related News

  • Mean temperatures on planets in our solar system
  • Tetulia records season's lowest temperature at 6.1 degrees Celcius this morning
  • Chuadanga records season’s lowest temperature at 6.3 degree Celsius
  • At 7 degrees Celsius, Tetulia records season's lowest temperature
  • Dhaka's temperature drops by 1.6° in 24 hours

India and Pakistan heatwave is 'testing the limits of human survivability'

TBS Report
02 May, 2022, 04:20 pm
Last modified: 02 May, 2022, 04:30 pm
People cool themselves in a canal in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 29. Photo: CNN
People cool themselves in a canal in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 29. Photo: CNN

Some parts of India and Pakistan witnessed record levels of temperature in the last month risking lives of millions as an impact of the global climate crisis.

Northwest and Central India recorded average temperatures of 35.9 and 37.78 degrees Celsius in April, respectively, the highest since records began 122 years ago, reports CNN quoting Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).

Last month, New Delhi saw seven consecutive days over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), three degrees above the average temperature for the month of April, according to CNN meteorologists. In some states, the heat closed schools, damaged crops and put pressure on energy supplies, as officials warned residents to remain indoors and keep hydrated.

The heatwave has also been felt by India's neighbor Pakistan, where the cities of Jacobabad and Sibi in the country's southeastern Sindh province recorded highs of 47 degrees Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit) on Friday, according to data shared with CNN by Pakistan's Meteorological Department (PMD). According to the PMD, this was the highest temperature recorded in any city in the Northern Hemisphere on that day.

"This is the first time in decades that Pakistan is experiencing what many call a 'spring-less year," Pakistan's Minister of Climate Change, Sherry Rehman said in a statement.

Temperatures in India are expected to subside this week, the IMD said, but experts say the climate crisis will cause more frequent and longer heatwaves, affecting more than a billion people across the two countries.

India is among the countries expected to be worst affected by the impacts of the climate crisis, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"This heatwave is definitely unprecedented," said Dr. Chandni Singh, IPCC Lead Author and Senior Researcher at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. "We have seen a change in its intensity, its arrival time, and duration. This is what climate experts predicted and it will have cascading impacts on health."

Loss of crops

India often experiences heatwaves during the summer months of May and June, but this year temperatures started rising in March and April.

In the northern state of Punjab, known as "India's bread basket," that's causing heat stress, not only for millions of agricultural workers, but for fields of wheat they rely on to feed their families and sell across the country.

Gurvinder Singh, director of agriculture in Punjab, said an average increase of up to 7 degrees Celsius (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in April had reduced wheat yields.

"Because of the heatwave we've had a loss of more than 5 quintal (500 kilograms) per hectare of our April yield," Singh told CNN Monday.

Chandni Singh, from the IPCC and no relation to Gurvinder Singh, said agricultural workers were more likely to suffer from the oppressive heat.

"People who work outdoors -- farmers, those in construction, manual labor -- will suffer more. They have less options to cool down and can't stay away from the heat," she said.

School closures and power cuts

In some parts of India, demand for electricity has led to a coal shortage, leaving millions without power for up to nine hours a day.

Last week, coal stocks at three out of the five power plants Delhi relies on to supply its power reached critically low levels, dropping below 25%, according to Delhi's Power Ministry.

India canceled more than 650 passenger trains through the end of May to clear tracks for more cargo trains as the country scrambles to replenish coal stocks at power plants, a senior official from the country's Railways Ministry told CNN.

Indian Railways is a key supplier of coal to power plants across the country.

Some Indian states, including West Bengal and Odisha, have announced school closures to deal with the rising temperatures.

"Children who have to traveled to school, many of them are getting nosebleeds, they can't tolerate this heatwave," West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters last week.

In recent years, both the federal and state governments have implemented a number of measures to mitigate the effects of heatwaves, including shutting down schools and issuing health advisories for the public.

But according to Chandni Singh, more should be done to prepare for future heatwaves.

"We don't have a heat action plan and there are gaps in planning," Singh said. "You can only adapt so much. This heatwave is testing the limits of human survivability."

Top News / World+Biz

Heatwave / heatwave in India / Temperature

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • How will Bangladesh pay for massive upcoming power projects this year?
    How will Bangladesh pay for massive upcoming power projects this year?
  • Israeli forces work next to a covered body at the scene of a shooting attack in Neve Yaacov which lies on occupied land that Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
    Seven dead in synagogue attack outside Jerusalem
  •  Gautam Adani, center.Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
    What really worries Indians about Adani's empire

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: UNB
    DCs asked to stay vigilant about illegal sand extraction from rivers
  • Photo: TBS
    Govt may provide loans to produce eco-friendly bricks: Environment minister
  • Plastic manufacturers eye over $17b exports by 2030
    Plastic manufacturers eye over $17b exports by 2030
  • Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen. Picture: File Photo
    Foreign minister lauds Residential Model College for UAE sustainability prize win
  • Fire set by tea estate kills wild animals in Habiganj forest
    Fire set by tea estate kills wild animals in Habiganj forest
  • Photo: TBS
    Brac, US embassy to work for empowering young girls in coastal regions

Related News

  • Mean temperatures on planets in our solar system
  • Tetulia records season's lowest temperature at 6.1 degrees Celcius this morning
  • Chuadanga records season’s lowest temperature at 6.3 degree Celsius
  • At 7 degrees Celsius, Tetulia records season's lowest temperature
  • Dhaka's temperature drops by 1.6° in 24 hours

Features

Sketch:TBS

Why we need consumer education for consumer wellbeing

15h | Thoughts
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute. Illustration: TBS

Twin shocks call for stronger domestic policy response

16h | Thoughts
December-er shohor, taxi taken for airport and the Park Street bathed in lights. Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

Exploring Kolkata on foot, empowered by Google Maps

16h | Explorer
Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

18h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

1d | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

1d | TBS Stories
Gavi may have to leave Camp Nou

Gavi may have to leave Camp Nou

5h | TBS SPORTS
After all the controversies, how is Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Pathaan’?

After all the controversies, how is Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Pathaan’?

7h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net