As the heatwave continues, officials say temperatures in southern Punjab will rise further from today
ISLAMABAD: Temperature will continue to rise in southern Punjab from today, Monday, amid a heatwave that is expected to continue till next month, a Punjab Disaster Management Authority spokesman said.
Pakistan’s disaster management authorities warned earlier this month that temperatures could rise to 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and eastern Punjab province between May 15 and 30. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) warned that an “intense” heatwave was expected in southern Punjab, with severe danger in the districts of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan from May 21 to 27.
An estimated 18 million students are also unable to attend classes after Pakistan’s populous province of Punjab ordered schools closed this month due to rising temperatures.
“From today, Monday, there will be a further rise in temperature in the districts of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan,” a Punjab official told state broadcaster Radio Pakistan on Monday.
“The National Institutes of Health advises people to avoid unnecessary outings and drink plenty of fluids to prevent the effects of the heatwave.”
At a press conference last week, Prime Minister’s Coordination Officer on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam said 26 districts in the country have been hit by heatwave since May 21.
Alam said the first wave would last until May 30, the second wave from June 7-8 and the third wave would begin in the last week of June. May and June were recorded as the “hottest and driest” with high monthly average temperatures, Alam added, and urged the public, especially children and the elderly, to take precautions.
She noted that the intensity of the heatwave has rapidly increased over the past few months with 13 districts in Sindh, nine in Punjab and four in Balochistan experiencing “severe heat”.
“The severe weather is likely to continue at least till June 3. There is no respite in sight, at least in Sindh. The heatwaves may ease in parts of Punjab but only after June 4,” a chief meteorologist said last week.
In Pakistan, where increased heat exposure and increased heatwaves have been identified as one of the main impacts of climate change, people have experienced extreme heat and seen some of the highest temperatures in the world in recent years. One of the 10 countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, the South Asian country of over 241 million people has also been hit by unseasonable heavy rains, flash floods and droughts in recent times.
Extreme heat caused by climate change can lead to illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and hyperthermia, and can exacerbate certain chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory, cerebrovascular and diabetes-related diseases, as well as lead to acute events such as stroke and hospitalization for kidney disease.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, nearly 10,000 Pakistanis died and the country suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion as a result of climate change between 1999 and 2018. In 2015, a heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and capital of Sindh province, killed 120 people.
In 2022, torrential monsoon rains caused the worst floods in Pakistan’s history, killing nearly 1,700 people and affecting more than 33 million people — a staggering figure roughly equivalent to the population of Canada. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools, and thousands of kilometers of roads and railways have yet to be rebuilt.
