Unabated heat wave in India claims thousands of lives

OHMYGOSSIP — Thousands of people have died as India battles unusually blistering summer across large parts of the country since mid-May, officials said Friday.

Even as light rains brought in some relief, officials were racing to arrest the danger by urging residents to stay inside and avoid moving in scorching sun.

Temperatures have topped 45-48 degrees Celsius in most parts of the country since mid-May. The heat wave continued on Friday, claiming 205 more lives in the worst-hit Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where the toll has risen to over 1,900, the officials said.

North Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are also dealing with higher-than-usual temperatures. In New Delhi, temperatures of above 43 degrees are melting blacktop on roads.

According to EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, the Indian heat wave is the fifth-deadliest in recorded world history and the second-deadliest in India’s history.

Authorities said the majority of the dead are labourers working outside on farms and construction sites, or are elderly.

More than 29 percent of the population in India is estimated to live below the poverty line. The majority of the poor are daily wage labourers, according to the government data, who mostly work outside in the extreme heat despite the risks.

“Either we have to work in fields for food or we stay at home both ways, we may suffer death,” said Ram Ranjan, 42, who lives in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The officials said that 156 more people succumbed to sunstroke in Andhra while 49 died in Telangana since Thursday, taking the toll in Andhra to 1,490 and in Telangana to 489.

The extreme heat in eastern Odisha state has claimed 17 lives so far.

Almost all deaths in Andhra, Telengana and Odisha were reported during last eight to 10 days, according to IANS, a wire news service in New Delhi.

The meteorological centre at Hyderabad has warned that the heat wave conditions may continue till Saturday evening.

“Most of the towns saw a fall of the maximum temperature by one to one degrees. In the next few days it will decline further,” said Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office in Delhi.

May and June are India’s hottest months, with temperatures regularly pushing above 38 degrees Celsius. But meteorologists say the number of days when temperatures approach 48 degrees has increased in the past 15 years.

Blamed on dry continental air blowing in from Iran and Afghanistan, the heat wave is forecast to subside over the weekend before monsoon rains bring relief to parched areas of the east and south India.