Beat the heat? India struggles to keep cool during virus lockdown
NEW DELHI: With little access to air conditioners or parks during the coronavirus lockdown, India’s poor - from farmers to slum-dwellers could face deadly threats from heat waves this summer, climate and disaster management experts have warned. Crippling heat waves, drought and water scarcity usually grip India during the summer months of May and June. Authorities regularly issue advisories on how to keep cool, including advice to drink water frequently, find shady spots and use fans.
But following that advice could be more difficult this year with most of the country’s 1.3 billion people trapped indoors as a result of a lockdown to try to stem spread of the coronavirus. Conditions will be particularly harsh for the poor living in small, cramped homes with no air conditioners, little ventilation and irregular water and power supplies.“Vulnerable communities are on the front lines of crises ranging from extreme heat (and) climate change to COVID-19,” said Anjali Jaiswal of the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
“The risks of extreme heat are deadly. Heat is not merely an inconvenience, it kills,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in emailed comments. India’s virus lockdown - enforced beginning March 25 - quickly prompted tens of thousands of poor migrant workers to walk hundreds of miles back to their home villages in blazing heat, with scores falling ill or dying along the way. The past decade has been India’s hottest on record, with extreme heat directly killing about 350 people last year, according to the national weather office.
Temperatures so far this year have hit 41 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) in New Delhi. Parts of the western desert state of Rajasthan have recorded temperatures of nearly 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in recent weeks. Overall, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted a warmer-than-usual summer between April and June. The forecast prompted the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) last month to issue special advice for dealing with heat waves during the lockdown.
It created lists of guidelines for workers ranging from vegetable vendors to farm and construction labourers, police and traffic officers. For example, it advised employers to schedule strenuous jobs at cooler times of the day, and to increase the frequency and duration of rest breaks for outdoor work - all while employees wear masks and maintain social distancing. Anup Kumar Srivastava, a drought and heat wave expert at the NDMA, said the agency was working not only to contain COVID-19, but also to save people from the “increasing intensity and severity of heat waves”. High temperatures can cause dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and worsen chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. He said people who suffer such heat-related illnesses could be a challenge for overstretched hospitals already “struggling to cope”with more than 67,000 coronavirus infections. Srivastava urged states to launch COVID-19 specific heat action plans to “reduce the adverse effects of heat waves.” — Reuters