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Agence France-Presse

Sweltering under a blistering sun, people across South and Southeast Asia have been taking cover beneath any shelter they can find as they pray for cooling rains with record temperatures hitting the region.
Bangladesh saw its highest temperature for almost 60 years in the past week, while in India at least 13 people died from heatstroke along with two in Thailand, according to local media.
“It’s hotter and hotter every year,” said Mikako Nicholls, shielding herself from the blazing rays with an umbrella near Bangkok’s central Lumpini Park on Wednesday.
Scientists say global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with a recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that “every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards”.
From India to China, Asia’s ‘rice bowl’ is under threat due to groundwater woes
Nicholls said Bangkok’s warmer spell was the hottest she had experienced in five years in the capital, and she was trying to stay indoors or in the shade.
Thailand’s Meteorological Department said on Wednesday that temperatures hit a record-equalling 44.6 degrees Celsius (112 Fahrenheit) in the western province of Tak on April 15, warning that the baking weather would continue into next week.
“It’s possible that this year’s heat might have been exacerbated due to human actions,” said deputy director general Thanasit Iamananchai.
The kingdom typically endures a spell of hotter weather preceding the rainy season, but the sun has shown an extra intensity this time around.
“This year’s record heat in Thailand, China and South Asia is a clear climate trend and will cause public health challenges for years to come,” said scientist Fahad Saeed, regional lead for climate policy institute Climate Analytics.


He warned that soaring temperatures were a result of climate change – and that the impact on vulnerable populations would be dire.
“The extreme heat that we’ve witnessed over the last few days will hit the poor the hardest,” said Saeed, based in Pakistan.
“It may even be life threatening for those without access to cooling or adequate shelter.”
A similar story played out in Myanmar where Ko Thet Aung, a taxi driver in the country’s commercial capital Yangon, said the heat was worse than in previous years.
“I can’t drive if the temperature is too hot during the day,” said the 42-year-old.
I do not remember seeing this kind of weather in the recent past
Sumu Bezbaruah, Indian labourer
In Bangladesh, hundreds gathered in the capital Dhaka this week to pray for rain after temperatures hit 40.6 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) – the highest recorded since the 1960s.
“They held prayers for rain. They also held prayers for easing the temperature and protection from the heatwave,” local police chief Abul Kalam Azad said.
The low-lying country is being dramatically impacted by climate change, enduring devastating flooding and evermore erratic rainfall.
Neighbouring India saw at least 13 people die from heatstroke at an awards event held outside in the west of the country on Sunday.
It came as the nation’s weather authority said parts of northern and eastern India were experiencing temperatures roughly three to four degrees above normal.

Urmila Das, a housewife in the northwestern city of Guwahati, said her family were suffering under the extreme conditions.
“We are not used to this kind of heat,” the 42-year-old said, adding that she had not sent her children to school as a precaution.
“Normally, we have rains in this part of the region from mid-March but there is no rain this year. It is very difficult.”
Contract labourer Sumu Bezbaruah, who works outside mostly delivering supplies to shops, said the heat was overwhelming.
“It has become very difficult to travel and deliver the goods,” he said.
“I do not remember seeing this kind of weather in the recent past.”


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Climate change

‘Hotter and hotter’: prayers for rain as scorching heatwave bakes Asia

A man carrying his son walks with an umbrella during a heatwave in Yangon. Photo: AFP

Commuters wait at a red light under the shade amid a heatwave in Bangkok on April 19. Photo: AFP

A family cools themselves in a park using irrigation water pipe in Lucknow as northern Indian continues to reel under intense heatwave. Photo: AP

From India to China, Asia’s ‘rice bowl’ is under threat due to groundwater woes

A farmer walks along an embankment in a rice field in Can Tho in southern Vietnam in February 2023. Photo: AFP

Singapore’s Tharman Shanmugaratnam has called for farmers to be given incentives to adopt practices such as smart irrigation. Photo: Bloomberg

Rice and grains displayed at a store in New Delhi, India. Scientists are advocating changing diets to reduce dependence on rice and wheat. Photo: Bloomberg

Women carry belongings salvaged from their flooded home after monsoon rains, in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh province, of Pakistan, in September 2022. Photo: AP

A man wades through floodwaters in Kota Tinggi in Malaysia’s Johor state on March 4, 2023. Photo: AFP

South Asia sweats as climate change fuels food risks, threatening ‘disaster’ for second year in a row

Workers carry sacks of wheat for sifting at a grain mill on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, last year. Photo: Reuters

Workers load sacks of flour onto trucks at a market in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. Photo: Bloomberg

Solving the climate crisis hinges on action taken in Asia

Typhoon Kompasu hits Hong Kong. Photo: Nora Tam

Floods in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: AFP

A climate change mural in Australia shows Prime Minister Scott Morrison holding a lump of coal. Photo: AFP

Filipino environmental campaigners take part in a vigil to commemorate the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Quezon City, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Photo: EPA

Why Pakistan ‘super floods’ are a warning for South Asia and the rest of the world

A displaced family wades through a flooded area after heavy rainfall in August 2022, in Jaffarabad, a district of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province. Photo: AP

Men queue to be checked by army doctors in Swat, Pakistan. Photo: Pakistan Inter Services Public Relations  

Homes are surrounded by floodwaters in Sohbat Pur city, a district of Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, in August 2022. Photo: AP

People affected by floods move to higher grounds in Jamshoro district, Sindh province, Pakistan earlier this month. Photo: EPA-EFE

Flood affected children receive glucose biscuits from Pakistani soldiers in Swat. Photo: Pakistan Inter Services Public Relations 

Roads and homes damaged by floodwaters in Kalam valley in northern Pakistan earlier this month. Photo: AP

Internally displaced people take care of their children under treatment for malaria and gastro in the flood-hit Hyderabad city of Sindh province earlier this month. Photo: AFP

Flood damage to the main highway marked by whitewashed rocks in Swat, northern Pakistan. Photo: Handout 

Motorcyclists make their way through a flooded street after heavy rains in Karachi earlier this month. Photo: AFP

News

Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Residents across South and Southeast Asia suffer under soaring temperatures fuelled by climate change
In India at least 13 people died from heatstroke along with two in Thailand as scientists warn impact of adverse weather on vulnerable populations would be dire


Residents across South and Southeast Asia suffer under soaring temperatures fuelled by climate change.


‘Hotter and hotter’: prayers for rain as scorching heatwave bakes Asia

Residents across South and Southeast Asia suffer under soaring temperatures fuelled by climate change In India at least 13 people died from heatstroke along with two in Thailand as scientists warn impact of adverse weather on vulnerable populations would be dire

Residents across South and Southeast Asia suffer under soaring temperatures fuelled by climate change

In India at least 13 people died from heatstroke along with two in Thailand as scientists warn impact of adverse weather on vulnerable populations would be dire