Extreme heat scorches Southeast Asia
MANILA: Extreme heat scorched parts of South and Southeast Asia on Wednesday, prompting schools across the Philippines to suspend classes, heat warnings in the Thai capital and worshippers in Bangladesh to pray for rain.
The high temperatures were recorded just a day ater the United Nations said Asia was the region that suffered the most disasters from climate and weather hazards in 2023, with floods and storms the chief causes of casualties and economic losses.
Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
“It’s surprising our pools are still empty. You would expect people to come and take a swim, but it seems they’re reluctant to leave their homes because of the heat.”
March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest months in the archipelago but conditions this year have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
The heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity.
Global temperatures hit record highs last year and the UN’S World Meteorological organisation said Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace, with the impact of heatwaves in the region becoming more severe.
The WMO’S State of the Climate in Asia 2023 report found Asia was warming faster than the global average, with temperatures last year nearly two degrees Celsius above the 1961 to 1990 average. “Many countries in the region experienced their hotest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms,” said WMO chief Celeste Saulo, who described the report as “sobering.”
Bangladesh’s weather bureau says that average maximum temperatures in the capital Dhaka over the past week have been 4-5 degrees Celsius higher than the 30-year average for the same period.
Muslim worshippers gathered in city mosques and rural fields to pray for relief from the scorching heat, which forecasters expect to continue for at least another week.
“Praying for rains is a tradition of our prophet. We repented for our sins and prayed for his blessings for rains,” Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an Islamic cleric who led a morning prayer service for 1,000 people in central Dhaka, said.