‘In a hot oven’: Indian heatwaves affect the most vulnerable

Newspaper Heat waves in India’s capital New Delhi have taken their toll on construction worker Mamta as she toils and sweats through a grueling 12-hour workday.

“In the afternoon, the situation is terrible. You feel like you are in a hot oven,” Mamta told Al Jazeera from her workplace in the Chhatarpur area of ​​Delhi. “It is very difficult to work in such heat… but my family depends on my income.”

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued heat wave warnings on May 22 for New Delhi, as well as the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Temperatures in certain areas of the capital, which has a population of more than 20 million, recently crossed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), making it one of the hottest days of the year.

According to IMD, 2023 saw the warmest February since 1901, with a maximum temperature of 29.5 °C (85.1 °F).

The IMD said temperatures will drop as rain is expected in areas subsumed by the heat wave and will provide much-needed relief. However, he warned that more scorching weather was ahead in the coming weeks and months.

“India has always been a hot country and extreme heat is a fact of life,” Aditya Pillai of the Center for Policy Research (CPR) told Al Jazeera.

“But the number of extremely hot days and heat waves, which are consecutive hot days, has been on the rise across the country,” he said, citing climate change and rising temperatures as “big drivers” behind the increase.

TO study published earlier this month showed that heatwaves in South Asian nations, including India, Bangladesh and Thailand, were 30 times more likely due to the climate crisis.

health concerns

In addition to the frustration and discomfort of working in high temperatures, heat waves can cause health problems and even death.

In April, 13 people died from a heat stroke in the state of Maharashtra after a million attendees waited for hours in the sun at an awards ceremony. From 2010, an estimated 6,500 people have died from heat-related illnesses.

Mamta, the construction worker, said she sometimes feels fatigued and suffers from recurring headaches from the damp.

Digambar Behera, a leading pulmonologist in India, said common problems related to heat waves include dehydration, exhaustion and loss of electrolytes.

“There are other problems like kidney damage,” he said. “People who work outdoors should take measures such as sufficient fluids and electrolytes such as glucose, and avoid direct sun exposure,” she noted.

Behera said that during heat waves, hospital emergencies related to heat stroke and fatigue increase, particularly among those who have chronic conditions and are more vulnerable.

‘Poor punished’

Mamta, a mother of two, said her problems are compounded by the fact that her husband is unable to work in the heat due to health problems. “I can’t skip work… Working in the heat is like torture… but no matter how hot it is, I have to get out.”

Mamta, originally from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said she moved to New Delhi in search of better wages. Currently, she earns $5-6 per day.

Another Delhi resident, Mohammad Salim Khan, who works 13-hour days as a welder, also said he has no choice but to keep working hard in the life-threatening heat.

“Whether it’s hot or cold, I don’t have the option to stay home,” said the father of three who earns $4-5 a day.

Khan, 50, said that while working outdoors is a tedious task, there is little relief for him at home as well.

“We have an air cooler at home, but it doesn’t work well in high humidity. The nights are hard and sleeping is a struggle,” she added, noting that her house does not have air conditioning.

The welder lives in a dilapidated one-room apartment in Seelampur, a low-income, sparsely populated town in the Shahdara district of northeast Delhi, with his wife and three children.

“Only the poor bear the brunt of such extreme weather conditions,” Khan said.

Rising global temperatures

Aditi Mukherji, director of climate change impacts at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), said that unless there is a “drastic” reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, heatwaves will continue and hit the most the poorest in society.

Highlighted the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report That said, for the planet to stay on a 1.5°C (2.7°F) global temperature rise trajectory by the end of the century, carbon emissions need to decline by 45 to 50 percent. cent by 2030.

“However, emissions are not only not declining, but have also increased globally in recent years after a temporary slowdown due to COVID,” Mukherji said.

He Paris Agreement 2015Ratified by more than 190 states, it called for a cap on global temperature rise of 1.5°C to limit the most adverse effects of climate change.

Mukherji said that while many Indian cities had heat action plans, investigations have shown that they were largely inadequate or not properly implemented. an analysis of 37 federal and regional CPR’s heat action plans found many to have severe gaps, with the most vulnerable communities often left out.

“Because exposure to heat, particularly high heat and humidity, can cause high mortality and morbidity, it is extremely important that governments pay special attention to providing relief to vulnerable populations by providing thermal shelters,” Mukherji said.

“Better city planning, such as planting more trees for shade, particularly in poorer neighborhoods, better housing infrastructure, will also go a long way in providing better adaptation to heat stress.”