Not Your Casual News Week 17: Extreme heatwave in South Asia breaks all records
As people bake under the unbreathable sun, some die of heatstroke.
From India to Indonesia, millions of people in South and Southeast Asia are sweltering in the heat. The dangerously hot weather is forcing school closures, threatening public health and causing a surge in heat-related illnesses and deaths.
Temperatures have been persistently high across the region, ranging from 37.7 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) to 48.8 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit). The heat reached further north: in Japan, the mercury rose to 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and above, exceeding its typical range.
“Thousands of records are being brutalized all over Asia, which is by far the most extreme event in world climatic history,” tweeted climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera on 28 April. This day, temperatures peaked at 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) in Vietnam and 43.3 (110 Fahrenheit) degrees Celsius in China.
The extreme heat is disrupting education systems and agriculture across the region - the coming harvest will be below average, the UN says. Bangladesh closed all schools this week as temperatures peaked at 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), affecting 33 million children.
The Philippines also closed schools as temperatures in Manila soared to 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit). “We already have reports of high blood pressure and dizziness, and fainting for pupils and teachers in the past days,” Benjo Basas, chairperson of Teachers' Dignity Coalition, a group of educators, told DWPM radio station.
“Heat exposure also highlights inequalities, with students from lower-income countries like Bangladesh more likely to live in areas impacted by heat and therefore less likely to have access to mitigation measures such as air-conditioning,” said Shumon Sengupta, Bangladesh Country Director for Save the Children International.
In Thailand, authorities have reported that 30 people have died from heatstroke so far this year. Electricity demand in Bangkok hit a new high on the night of 22 April as residents turned on air conditioners, trying to catch a cold breeze. Bangkok issued extreme heat warnings last week, with the heat index — an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in shaded areas to give a human-perceived equivalent temperature — rising to “very dangerous” levels and expected to exceed 52 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).
In Myanmar, Chauk township in the central Magway region recorded a temperature of 48.2 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) on Sunday. It is Myanmar’s highest April temperature since records began 56 years ago.
In India, officials are working to mitigate the impact on the country’s massive ongoing elections, where a politician fainted during a campaign rally, citing the heat.
The heatwave is being exacerbated by the ongoing El Niño event, which is bringing hotter and drier conditions to that part of the world, while increasing rainfall and flooding on the African side — a point we will return to in today’s climate news section.
Kathryn Bowen, deputy director of Melbourne Climate Futures and professor of environment, climate and global health at the University of Melbourne, told CNA that the body has “thresholds” when it comes to maximum heat: “The higher the temperature, the more our bodies have to work to cope with that heat.” In case of extreme heatwave like the one going on in Asia, the main issue resides at night. “Overnight temperatures aren’t dropping. So they’re not allowing our bodies to cool and recover after periods of intense heat. Physiologically, we cannot maintain these high levels of internal heat.”
Another question is how health systems can cope. Think about Covid, it is pretty much the same. In a short period of time, patients flood hospitals with heat-related symptoms, some of which may even be fatal. “We see in many occasions of extreme heat that our hospitals just cannot deal with the demand,” explained Professor Bowen.
“As humans, we absolutely have a limit to our adaptation. We must look to adaption within our environment, like reducing the urban heat island effect for example, so more green space […] but also critically, we must be mitigating, so we must be rapidly accelerating our greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies all across the world because climate change has no boundaries.”
Kathryn Bowen, Deputy director of Melbourne Climate Futures and professor of environment, climate and & global health at University of Melbourne.
The World Meteorological Organization warned in a report last week that Asia remained “the world’s most disaster-hit region from weather, climate and water-related hazards in 2023.” Climate change is intensifying extreme weather around the world, increasing the frequency and severity of disasters.
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What Else Happened?
More than 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes in northern Ethiopia due to clashes in a disputed border region. Fighting broke out in areas claimed by both the Tigray and Amhara regions, such as Alamata Town and Raya Alamata. The violence threatens to undermine a fragile peace deal signed between the federal government and Tigrayan authorities in November 2022, after two years of war. Part of the agreement called for Amhara forces, which have been supporting the federal forces, to withdraw from Raya Alamata and other occupied parts of Tigray. But implementation has faced challenges, with Amhara troops still controlling parts of western Tigray. “The humanitarian situation is dire, with thousands of women and children in need of humanitarian support to survive,” the UN said in a report on 22 April, with some people sheltering in an “open area” where they are “exposed to the elements during this belg/spring rainy season.” Ethiopia’s complex ethnic divisions have fuelled conflict for years, its identity and territory remaining a point of contention.
The British Parliament has passed its controversial legislation to send migrants to Rwanda for asylum processing, citing the need to deter the deadly English Channel crossings. The Rwanda Plan, a key policy of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, involves sending migrants who arrive in Britain, such as people smuggled in or crossing the sea with overloaded makeshift boats, to Rwanda. It was initially halted following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. But the UK government has now passed the Safety of Rwanda Bill, making it harder for migrants to challenge deportation — The bill declares Rwanda a safe destination and allows the UK government to ignore European Court of Human Rights orders to block deportations. The move is likely to draw strong domestic and international criticism, as Rwanda has been accused of misunderstanding its obligations under the Refugee Convention and being dismissive of asylum seekers from certain regions. Rwanda has now plans to build facilities for the deportees, and the Rwandan government insists it is committed to its international obligations. The first deportation flights to the East African country are due within the next 10-12 weeks, each plane load of around 300 deportees is estimated to cost the British taxpayer £1.8 million.
Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has been sentenced to death by the Iranian government, which accuses him of “spreading corruption on earth.” Toomaj was previously sentenced to six years and three months in prison, but was released on bail in November 2023. He was first arrested in October 2022 for supporting the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and for producing protest songs against the Islamic Republic. The rapper was re-arrested after posting about the torture he suffered in prison, and has since been sentenced to death. The sentence has sparked an international outcry, with politicians, artists and civil society actors calling for it to be overturned. Toomaj Salehi is a prominent voice for freedom and human rights in Iran, he has previously said that Iranians “are living somewhere horrific” where they are dealing with “a mafia that is prepared to kill an entire nation in order to keep its power, money and weapons.” At the date of my publication, 1st of May, the Iranian regime has already executed 171 people this year, according to Iran Human Rights.
Climate News
Kenya’s floods seem unstoppable, as does the death toll. According to the BBC, more than 120 people have died so far, including at least 50 in a flood zone north of the capital, Nairobi. There, heavy rains and a burst dam triggered flash floods, and rescue teams are searching for survivors and pulling bodies from the mud and debris. Schools have postponed the start of the new term by a week to 6 May because of the floods. Nairobi’s drainage system is overwhelmed as the city’s population has grown significantly, but infrastructure has not kept pace. Much of the city is built on flood plains and around rivers, disrupting natural water flows and overwhelming existing drainage systems. “Kenya is facing a worsening flood crisis due to the combined effects of El Niño and the ongoing March-May 2024 long rains,” IFRC Secretary General and CEO Jagan Chapagain wrote in a tweet. More than 131,000 people have been affected as floods have inundated almost half of Kenya. Heavy rains in East Africa have also affected Tanzania and Burundi, with at least 155 people killed in Tanzania and some 96,000 people forced to flee their homes in Burundi after months of rain.
A significant dust storm from the Sahara has turned Athens and other Greek skies orange, reducing sunlight and visibility and increasing fine particulate matter. The storm prompted health warnings, urging people with underlying health problems to take care because of the fine particles in the air: concentrations in Athens reached 700 µg/m3 on Wednesday morning — the European limit being 50 µg/m3. The Sahara desert emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of mineral dust each year, the smallest of which can travel across Europe. “Studying especially the last 20 years, what we see is that dust transport episodes are characterized by periodicity, with intense phenomena every 3-5 years. There does not seem to be any upward trend, on the contrary in recent years, after 2018, when there was an upsurge, there was a recession,” said Nikos Michalopoulos, research director at the Athens Observatory. The dust storm is an annual occurrence, but this year’s episode is particularly severe, affecting air quality and visibility in Greece.
In China, Guangdong province (in the south-east, the region that encompasses Hong Kong) was first hit by severe flooding that devastated many areas of the province — before being hit by a tornado. The floods forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people during the week, while the tornado hit Guangzhou on 27 April, leaving five dead, 33 injured and a hundred factories damaged. The extreme rainfall has already claimed four lives. Guangdong, China’s most populous province, is home to some 127 million people. Its many factories are vital to China’s export industry. “Intensifying climate change” has increased the likelihood of the kind of heavy rains normally seen only in the summer months, Yin Zhijie, chief hydrological forecaster at the Ministry of Water Resources, told state broadcaster China National Radio on Tuesday. China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, but has pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by 2060.
Image of the Week
In Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia, the Tengger tribe performs the Unan-unan ritual every five years.
This religious ceremony is a way to express gratitude to God Almighty and seek safety and protection from disasters — well needed during this times.
The ritual revolves around buffalo symbolism, that we can see at the center of the picture above, with heads paraded through the village and parts utilized in offerings. The remaining meat is distributed among the community, emphasizing societal prosperity.
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