NEW DELHI: India was bracing on Monday for another bout of extreme heat after temperatures smashed records in some parts of the country, while weather officials warned against more frequent heat waves.
Temperatures in parts of the western region breached 50 Celsius (122°F) last week, causing a spike in cases of people suffering dehydration and heatstroke, and triggering widespread power cuts as surging demand overwhelmed supply grids.
Television channels in Gujarat state showed residents struggling to cross a street as their shoes became stuck in what appeared to be the melting surface of a road.
May and June are typically India’s hottest months, when temperatures regularly exceed 40 Celsius in the run-up to the monsoon rains, but the severity of the heat this year has caught many off guard.
“There are usually thunderstorms this time of year, but these rains have not been occurring,” said B.P. Yadav, head of the national weather forecasting center of the India Meteorological Department.
“Hot winds have been blowing in from Afghanistan and Pakistan, leading to these extreme temperatures.”
The mercury hit a record 51 degrees Celsius last week in Phalodi, a city in the western desert state of Rajasthan, beating a previous national high of 50.6 degrees in 1956.
The heat should ease with the arrival of clouds and light showers this week, Yadav said, but his office forecast a return to elevated temperatures in late May or early June.
Possible reasons for the rising temperatures ranged from global warming to greater urbanization, leading to taller buildings and increased pollution, Yadav added.
The heat wave has struck as India grapples with a major drought, worsening water shortages that have hit an estimated 330 million people.
“We are praying to the gods for an early monsoon so that people get some relief, as the heat has taken a toll on our bodies,” said Neeraj Kumar, a resident of the northern industrial city of Kanpur.
“We are not even able to do our daily chores properly.”
The number of heat waves had nearly doubled in the 10 years to 2010 from earlier decades, the meteorological office said. The number in the last six years had also risen from prior to the year 2000, but identifying clear trends requires more data.
In January, two US government agencies said last year’s global average temperature was the hottest ever by the widest margin on record.
Bout of heat waves expected following record temperatures
Bout of heat waves expected following record temperatures
Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes
- A dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence
DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the ambassador of Myanmar after civil war gun battles in the neighboring country spilled over the border, wounding a Bangladeshi girl.
Heavy fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine state this month has involved junta soldiers, Arakan Army fighters and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militia guerrillas.
Authorities said around a dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence.
Twelve-year-old Huzaifa Afnan was struck by a bullet, while a Bangladeshi fisherman had his leg ripped off after stepping on a landmine near the frontier.
“Bangladesh reminded that the unprovoked firing towards Bangladesh is a blatant violation of international law and a hindrance to good neighborly relations,” a Foreign Ministry press statement said.
Myanmar’s ambassador to Bangladesh, U Kyaw Soe Moe, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, where he expressed sincere sympathy to the injured victims and their families.
“My daughter was supposed to go to school, but she is on a ventilator,” Afnan’s father Jasim Uddin said. “My heart is bleeding for my baby girl.”
More than a million Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar, many after a 2017 military crackdown, and now eke out a living in sprawling refugee camps just across the border in Bangladesh.
ARSA, a Rohingya armed group formed to defend the persecuted Muslim minority, has been fighting the Myanmar military, as well as rival Arakan Army guerrillas.
On Monday, Bangladeshi border forces detained 53 ARSA fighters who had crossed the frontier.
Bangladeshi police officer Saiful Islam, commander of the local Teknaf station, said all detainees were being held in jail, except one fighter who was receiving hospital treatment for bullet wounds.
“These individuals have a history of living in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and crossing into Myanmar,” Islam told AFP.
