A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted the region this week, prompting thousands of schools across the Philippines to suspend in-person classes.
Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia sweltered through unusually hot weather on Thursday, as the Thai government said heatstroke has already killed at least 30 people this year.
A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted the region this week, prompting thousands of schools across the Philippines to suspend in-person classes.
An Indian minister blamed hot weather after he fainted during an election campaign speech as the country's weather bureau said severe heatwave conditions were expected in nine eastern and southern states in the coming days.
Even mountainous Nepal issued health warnings and put hospitals on alert on Thursday as temperatures soared in its southern plains.
Scientific research has shown climate change is causing heatwaves to be longer, more frequent and more intense.
The United Nations said this week Asia was the region most affected by climate and weather hazards in 2023, with floods and storms the chief causes of casualties and economic losses.
City authorities in Bangkok gave an extreme heat warning as the heat index was expected to rise above 52 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).
Temperatures in the concrete sprawl of the Thai capital hit 40.1C (104.2F) on Wednesday and similar levels were forecast for Thursday.
The heat index -- a measure of what the temperature feels like taking into account humidity, wind speed and other factors -- was at an "extremely dangerous" level in Bangkok, the city's environment department warned.
- 'Danger' zone -
Authorities in Udon Thani province, in the kingdom's rural northeast, also warned of blazing temperatures on Thursday.
The health ministry said late Wednesday that 30 people had died from heatstroke between January 1 and April 17, compared with 37 in the whole of 2023.
Direk Khampaen, deputy director-general of Thailand's Department of Disease Control, told AFP that officials were urging elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions including obesity to stay indoors and drink water regularly.
The Philippines' state weather service said the heat index in 38 cities and municipalities, including Manila, would be in the "danger" zone on Thursday -- feeling like 42-51C (108-124F).
"Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are likely" in such conditions, the service said, and "heat stroke is probable with continued exposure", the service said.
India's Roads Minister Nitin Gadkari fainted during a speech on Wednesday as he campaigned for the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
"I felt uncomfortable due to the heat during the rally," Gadkari wrote on social media platform X, adding that he had recovered and would continue campaigning.
India is in the middle of a marathon election staggered across six weeks, with large outdoor campaign rallies being staged across the country.
The election commission said this week that it was reviewing the impact of heatwaves and humidity before each round of voting with a view to "mitigatory measures" that would still allow people to cast their ballots.
- Nepal hospital alert -
In Nepal, temperatures were forecast to soar above 40C (104F) in two southern provinces, and the government ordered officials to prepare.
"We have already circulated messages to local bodies to be alert and asked hospitals to be on standby to serve more patients," Roshan Pokhrel, a secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population, told AFP.
Krishna Kumar Gupta, an official in southern Lumbini province, said incidences of wildfires have also gone up.
"Yesterday it was 43 degrees Celsius and people have also started to feel sick. We are getting complaints of diarrhoea, dehydration and headaches," he said.
April is typically the hottest time of the year in Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia but conditions this year have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern.
There were record levels of heat stress across the globe last year, with the United Nations weather and climate agency saying Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace.
Thailand has sweltered through a heatwave this week, with a temperature of 44.2C (111.6F) recorded in the northern province of Lampang on Monday -- just shy of the all-time national record of 44.6C (112.3F) hit last year.
Across the border in Myanmar, the temperature reached a blazing 45.9C (114.6F) on Wednesday, with more of the same expected Thursday.
The chaos and conflict unleashed by the military's 2021 coup has led to rolling power blackouts in much of the country, hampering people's ability to keep cool with fans and air-conditioning.
Bangladesh children sweat at home as heatwave shuts schools
Dhaka (AFP) April 26, 2024 -
Classes are cancelled across Bangladesh due to searing heat, but high school student Mohua Akter Nur found the soaring temperatures at home left her in no state for homework.
Millions of pupils were told to stay home this week as the South Asian nation swelters through one of its worst heatwaves on record, with temperatures 4-5 degrees Celsius (7.2-9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average.
Few schools in the capital Dhaka have air conditioning, and trying to conduct classes would have been futile.
But the government's decision to shutter schools was no relief to 13-year-old Nur.
Her cramped one-room home in the megacity, shared with her younger brother and parents, feels almost as suffocating as the streets outside.
"The heat is intolerable. Our school is shut, but I can't study at home. The electric fan does not cool us," she told AFP.
"When the power went out for an hour or two, it felt terrible."
- 'Unbearable' -
Nur's mother Rumana Islam was laying down in a corner of their home after a sleepless night, coated in sweat after cooking for her family.
"Last year was hot, but this year is too hot -- more than ever. Just unbearable," she said.
"In villages, you can step out and cool yourself under the shade of trees.
"There is some breeze coming from the farmland. But here in Dhaka, all you can do is sit at home."
Temperatures across the country have reached more than 42C (108F) in the past week.
The heat prompted thousands of Bangladeshis to gather in city mosques and rural fields, praying for relief from the scorching heat that forecasters expect to continue through the weekend.
Bangladesh authorities expect to reopen schools from April 28, before temperatures are expected to recede.
Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
The United Nations said this week Asia was the region most affected by climate and weather hazards in 2023, with floods and storms the chief causes of casualties and economic losses.
Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia have again sweltered through unusually hot weather this week.
Bangladesh and its 171 million people are already at the forefront of the global climate crisis, regularly battered by powerful cyclones and floods of increasing frequency and severity.
- 'Like you are burning' -
The latest bout of extreme weather has spurred an outbreak of diarrhoea in the country's south, due to higher temperatures and the resulting increased salinity of local water sources.
Around the tenement building where Nur's family lives, alongside dozens of other low-income families, adults tried to block out the worst of the heat by dozing fitfully in their homes through the afternoon.
"The heat is so intense that it's tough to be out driving in these conditions," said 40-year-old Mohammad Yusuf, who like Nur's father and many of their neighbours, makes ends meet as a driver.
"You can get some respite when the air conditioner is on," he said. "But when you are outside, it feels like you are burning".
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