'It's so hot you can't breathe': Southeast Asia faces sweltering temperatures
Next April, Southeast Asia will face an intense heat wave. April is considered one of the hottest months in these countries, but this year's heat wave is exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon, which causes increases in mercury levels approaching record numbers.
A severe heatwave in Southeast Asia has closed thousands of schools in the Philippines, confined Thais to their homes and prompted Muslim worshipers to pray for rain in Bangladesh.
The World Meteorological Organization highlighted on Tuesday that the impact of heatwaves has become more severe in Asia. statement. 2023 was the hottest year on record worldwide.
On Wednesday, authorities in the Philippines advised residents not to venture out. “It's so hot we can't breathe,” says Erlin Tomaron, 60, who works at a seaside resort in the northern Philippines, where the temperature felt Tuesday reached 47 degrees Celsius.
Feeling temperatures – taking into account, in addition to temperature, various meteorological factors, such as wind or humidity – are expected to reach 42 degrees Celsius or more on Wednesday in at least 30 cities and municipalities in the Philippines. The Education Ministry said nearly 6,700 schools suspended face-to-face classes on Wednesday.
The workers are about to faint
In Thailand, millions of residents of the capital, Bangkok, were asked, on Wednesday, to stay in their homes, due to the heat index, which was considered “very dangerous.” “Please refrain from spending time outside,” the Bangkok Municipality (BMA) warned on Facebook.
The National Institute of Meteorology expects the temperature to reach 39 degrees Celsius on Wednesday in the capital. In this city with a population of ten million people and a global tourism destination, temperatures may rise further in the coming days.
Workers who have to be outside, such as scooter delivery workers or food vendors, try to stay in the shade and drink to survive in these conditions, which are exacerbated by air pollution. “Sometimes I feel dizzy, but not so dizzy that I lose consciousness,” says Bubva Nakhin, who sells grilled meatballs on the sidewalk in central Bangkok. Bonsri Winkayo, a motorcycle taxi driver, adds: “I feel like I will faint when I work outside, but I have no other choice.”
Pray for rain
In Bangladesh, thousands of Muslim worshipers decided to pray for rain on Wednesday in mosques and rural areas across the country, as schools were closed until the end of the month. Imam Muhammad Abu Yusuf told Agence France-Presse after dawn prayers in front of a thousand worshipers in central Dhaka, “Asking rain is the Sunnah of our Prophet.” He stressed that “life has become unbearable due to the lack of rain.” “The poor suffer greatly.”
Temperatures reached more than 42 degrees Celsius last week in this country. According to the Meteorological Department, the average maximum temperatures in the capital Dhaka this week were 4 to 5 degrees Celsius higher than the 30-year average during the same period. “This April has been one of the hottest months since independence” in 1971, meteorologist Triful Newaz Kabir told AFP.
Government medical officer Bhupen Chandra Mondal told AFP that hospitals in the southern coastal district of Patuakhali reported local outbreaks of diarrhea due to rising temperatures and increased salinity in local water sources. He continued, “The number of diarrhea patients is very high this year,” concluding that “all of this is linked to climate change.”
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