Heatwave grips Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi

ISLAMABAD: A heatwave has once again gripped Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi as metrological department officials warned that temperatures could soar to as high as 42 degrees celsius this week.
Last May, a heatwave killed 65 people in the southern city, with high temperatures coinciding with power outages and the holy month of Ramadan, when most Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours.
“Heatwave conditions continue to prevail over Karachi city and would last till 4 May,” the metrological office said in a statement on Wednesday, saying the maximum temperature would range between 40-42 degree celsius. “The Authorities and all stakeholders are requested to continue with their efforts of precautionary measures.”
Dr. Seemin Jamali, executive director of Jinnah hospital, the largest health facility in the southern Sindh province, told Arab News no heatstroke cases had so far been reported at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center.
The meteorological office predicts the heatwave will continue for at least the next three days, mainly affecting construction workers who work directly under the sun.
The heatwave has stirred fears of a repeat of a heatwave in of 2015, when morgues and hospitals were overwhelmed and at least 1,300 mostly elderly and sick people died from the searing heat. That year, the Edhi Foundation morgue ran out of freezer space after about 650 bodies were brought in the space of a few days. Ambulances left decaying corpses outside in sweltering heat.