A record heatwave has hit India and Pakistan, causing power outages and water shortages for millions of people who are expected to experience this blast furnace more frequently in the future, according to climate change experts.
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The temperature in Delhi approached 46 degrees Celsius on Thursday. And this extreme heatwave is expected to continue raging in north-west and central India for five more days and in the east by the end of the week, according to the Indian Meteorological Agency. India’s northwest Rajasthan, western Gujarat and southern Andhra Pradesh have imposed blackouts on factories to curb consumption. According to press reports, large power plants are facing coal shortages.
Heatwaves have killed more than 6,500 people in India since 2010. Scientists say they are more common but also more severe due to climate change. “Climate change makes high temperatures more likely in India,” said Dr. Mariam Zachariah of Grantham Institute, Imperial College London. “Before human activity was raising global temperatures, heat like the one that hit India earlier this month would only have been observed about once every 50 years,” she added. “We can now expect such high temperatures about every four years,” she warns.
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48 degrees in Pakistan
The megalopolis of more than 20 million people lacks modern infrastructure to process the 12,000 tons of waste it produces every day. According to Pradeep Khandelwal, ex-Head of Delhi’s Waste Management Department, all of these fires are likely caused by the extremely high temperatures that accelerate the decomposition of organic waste.
Neighboring Pakistan also experienced extreme heat on Thursday, which is expected to continue into next week. Temperatures are expected to be 8 degrees above normal in parts of the country, reaching 48 degrees in parts of rural Sindh on Wednesday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Society. Farmers must manage the water supply wisely in this country where agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, employs around 40% of the total labor force. “The country’s public health and agriculture will face serious threats from this year’s extreme temperatures,” said Climate Minister Sherry Rehman. March was the hottest since 1961, according to the Pakistan Weather Bureau.
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