Record high temperatures in India, Pakistan put millions at risk

Parts of India and Pakistan are experiencing record high temperatures, putting millions of lives in the subcontinent at risk, according to international media reports.

Average maximum temperatures in central and northwest India reached 35.9 and 37.78 degrees Celsius respectively, the highest in the 122 years since records began, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

CNN meteorologists say New Delhi experienced seven straight days over 40 degrees Celsius, over three degrees above the usual April average.

Pakistan is also feeling the heat as the cities of Jacobabad and Sibi in Sindh province recorded highs of 47 degrees Celsius on Monday, according to data shared with CNN by the Pakistan Meteorological Department. They were the highest temperatures recorded in a city in the Northern Hemisphere that day.

A boy cools off during a hot and humid day at China Creek area in Karachi, Pakistan, April 29, 2022. Reuters

On Saturday, Jacobabad hit 49 degrees Celsius, one of the highest temperatures ever recorded in April, The Guardian reports.

Similar stories are playing out across the subcontinent as over 1.5 billion people experience searing summer temperatures that have seemingly come early. And the relief of monsoon rain remains some way off.

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

The country is experiencing an ‘existential crisis’ from climate emergencies, she said.

The heat closed schools in Indian states such as West Bengal and Odisha, damaged crops across the subcontinent and threatened fuel supplies.

“Many of the children who have travelled to school are getting nosebleeds because they can’t tolerate this heatwave,” said Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal.

A labourer, with his sleeves and the bottom of his trousers rolled up, sits on a trolley under a shed, amid a hot and humid weather in Karachi, Pakistan, Apr 30, 2022. Reuters

The yield from wheat crops has dropped up to 50 percent in the areas hit by the most extreme temperatures, The Guardian reports.

In Balochistan, known for its apple and peach orchards, harvests have been decimated, according to the Guardian report. Apple trees blossomed over a month early and then the blossom sizzled in the dry heat, leaving farmers in despair.

“This is the first time the weather has wreaked such havoc on our crops in this area,” farmer Haji Ghulam Sarwar Shahwani told The Guardian. “We don’t know what to do and there is no government help. The cultivation has decreased; now very few fruits grow. Farmers have lost billions because of this weather. We are suffering and we can’t afford it.”

The water supply is drying up too, says Sherry Rehman.

“The water reservoirs dry up. Our big dams are at dead level right now, and sources of water are scarce,” she said.

The high demand for electricity has led to a coal shortage in some parts of India and left people without power for up to nine hours a day.

Indian Railways, a major supplier of coal to power plants in the country, has cancelled more than 650 passenger trains through May to clear the track for more cargo trains, a senior official told CNN.

The heat is also causing glaciers to melt in Pakistan and may leave thousands at risk of floods.

“Climate and weather events are here to stay and will in fact only accelerate in their scale and intensity if global leaders don’t act now,” said Sherry Rahman.

People bathe at a concrete water pen during hot weather in Kolkata, India, May 2, 2022. Reuters

Dr Chandni Singh, a senior researcher at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, agrees.

"This heatwave is definitely unprecedented," he told CNN.

"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."

Though governments have undertaken a number of measures to minimise the impact of heatwaves, more should be done to prepare for the future, Dr Singh believes.

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

The record-breaking heatwave in #India and #Pakistan seems like it will never end.

Pakistan topped at a searing 49.5C (121.1F) today.

That's the hottest temperature observed anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in 2022. pic.twitter.com/8KdWbMlftr

— US StormWatch (@US_Stormwatch) May 2, 2022