Blistering heatwave sweeps South Asia as mercury in Pakistan soars to 50C

South Asia was in the grip of an extreme heatwave on Saturday, with parts of the country reaching a temperature of 50 degrees Celsius as officials warned of acute water shortages and a health threat.

Swathes of Pakistan and India have been smothered by high temperatures since April in extreme weather that the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned is consistent with climate change.

On Friday, the city of Jacobabad hit 50C (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said, with temperatures forecast to remain high until Sunday. “It’s like fire burning all around,” said labourer Shafi Mohammad, who is from a village on the outskirts of Jacobabad where residents struggle to find reliable access to drinking water.

Nationwide, the PMD alerted temperatures were between 6C and 9C above normal, with the capital Islamabad — as well as provincial hubs Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar — recording temperatures around 40C on Friday. “This year we have jumped from winter right into summer,” said PMD chief forecaster Zaheer Ahmad Babar. Pakistan has endured heightened heat waves since 2015, he said, especially in upper Sindh and Punjab.

“The intensity is increasing, and the duration is increasing, and the frequency is increasing,” he told AFP. Jacobabad nurse Bashir Ahmed says that, for the past six years, heatstroke cases in the city have been diagnosed earlier in the year — starting in May, rather than June or July. “This is just increasing,” he said.

Far worse may be on the horizon for South Asia as climate change continues apace, top climate scientists have said.

‘TAKE COVER’: Punjab irrigation spokesman Adnan Hassan said the Indus river — Pakistan’s key waterway — had shrunk by 65 per cent “due to a lack of rains and snow” this year. Sheep have reportedly died from heatstroke and dehydration in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab. “There is a real danger of a shortfall in food and crop supply this year in the country should the water shortage persist,” Hassan said.