People are frying eggs on their terraces, getting trapped on melting roads, and hundreds are dying due to crop failure as it is getting really, really hot in India. Phalodi, a city in the desert state of Rajasthan, about 640 kilometers west of New Delhi, beat the previous heating record of 50.6°C, set in 1956, to become the hottest place in the country at 51°C.
Global warming showing its impact:India records its hottest ever temperature of 51degree C;A wake up call pic.twitter.com/oZeU0z3jZ9
— Dr Rakesh Sinha (@RakeshSinha01) May 22, 2016
In 2015, an unprecedented heat wave killed more than 2,500 Indians. This year is going to be worse. Kim Knowlton, deputy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Science Center, told VICE:
“That kind of extreme heat is not only an inconvenience, it kills people. In addition to the higher risk of heatstroke, people with heart and lung ailments are under increased stress as the body works overtime to cool itself off. And people with kidney trouble can find themselves at higher risk of dehydration. Not everyone certainly has access to air conditioning. Many people work outdoors. So we’re really concerned about classic heat-related illness and death.
“May is typically the hottest month, but it’s a double whammy — a triple whammy when there’s the drought. This really compounds the challenge to people in India, millions of them, who don’t always have the economic resources to get out of harm’s way.”
Dr Bhani Ram Paliwal, the principal medical officer at a government hospital in Phalodi, told The New York Times that roughly 500 patients, almost double the average number, visited his outpatient department. Many complained of heat-related illnesses like diarrhea and fever, the day the temperatures reached 51°C.
Rajasthan takes emergency measures to deal with record heat wave https://t.co/MAzyTNscxV
— TOI India (@TOIIndiaNews) May 21, 2016
Shiv Prakash Chanda, the nursing officer at the hospital, told The Guardian:
“It is incredibly hot. None of the air-conditioners or coolers are working. We have running water, but the water is stored in tanks on top the buildings, and when it comes out of the tap the water is so hot that you can’t even wash your hands with it. You can’t even go to the toilet. The government needs to do something – they need to put up tents and offer cold water in places like railway stations where people gather. The local administration has done nothing so far.”
In the wake of scorching heat, Chandra has asked the state government to delay a national polio vaccination program, but has so far received no response. “Going door to door in this heat can be fatal. The vaccines may be spoiled. Plus we need more people in the hospital here because so many people are coming in.”
It has got so hot in the city of 45,000 residents, that those who dared to venture outdoors in the morning came home early to protect themselves from the midday sun. Murari Lal Thanvi, an eyewitness in Phalodi, told the BBC his phone stopped functioning due to overheating on May 20.
“Even my mobile phone gave up and stopped working when I was trying to take pictures today. I was able to switch my mobile phone on after putting a wet cloth on it for about 20-25 minutes.”
While the city residents are somehow coping with the hot weather, the rural areas surrounding Phalodi are finding it difficult to protect themselves from the sweltering sun. In Pratapgarh, a nearby village, the heat wave has devastated this year’s harvest; there is no electricity, and because lakes have dried up, villagers are forced to walk miles to get drinking water.
An old man from Pratapgarh said, “The trees and saplings have all dried up. We can’t even leave our homes. There are no fridges or coolers here. Only the wind – that’s your cooler.” Dinesh Bishnoi, a farmer in the village of Sajananiyo ki Dhani near Phalodi, added, “My buffalo is giving only one-third of the normal milk.”
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Here’s a clue… Find something else to do than continually breed and bring the numbers of the areas population down. Then, clean up the shithole!! The people there are incredibly nasty with their practices of many things!!
That sucks But the planet goes through phases Not global warming i’m afraid.. Global warming is a man made idea..Earth has seen these phases many times over..
lol mark, educate yourself, no one is claiming that global warming is solely man made, the only real claim that has been made and proven correct is that us humans are speeding up the earths natural cycles of heating and cooling, and that we are slowly suffocating the planet with our greenhouse gasses. stop trolling you douche