1 / 3 Photo: Andy Wong/AP/TT
Temperatures are rising across Asia – where the heat is claiming lives and causing discomfort to people.
– It was torture, says a tourist about the record heat in Beijing.
“Are three suns shining over Beijing right now?” asked a user on the social media platform Weibo the other day. “It’s so hot my hands are shaking,” wrote another.
For the first time in nine years, the highest level of heat warning has been declared in the Chinese capital. On Thursday, over 41 degrees were measured, the highest temperature recorded in the city on a June day since the measurements began.
Lucy Yu has traveled from Shanghai with her daughter to visit the traditional dragon boat festival in Beijing.
– We went to the forbidden city and it was torture. I had to cancel the rest of our plans and stay at the hotel, it felt like the floor was on fire when we visited the palace, Yu told the South China Morning Post.
Record notes
On Thursday, record readings were also made at 16 other weather stations in provinces such as Hebei and Shandong, according to the Bloomberg news agency citing China’s meteorological authorities.
Climate change will make heat waves more frequent, longer and stronger. The heat is expected to increase the demand for electricity and increase the risk of forest fires. And China is not the only Asian country battling extreme temperatures.
In northern India, the thermometer has crept up to 46 degrees in some places. From the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, there were reports earlier this week of overburdened hospitals – and morgues. Some of the residents now only venture out during the slightly cooler morning hours.
It is not uncommon for the northern parts of India to be very hot during the summer. But now temperatures have been consistently higher than normal, according to India’s meteorological authorities. The highs recently have landed around 43.5 degrees.
Comprehensive warmth
The heatwaves subsided across parts of Asia as early as April, only to strike again at the end of May – which usually marks the start of the slightly cooler monsoon season.
In Vietnam, authorities were allowed to turn off streetlights and ration electricity as increased demand for air conditioning threatened to overload the power grid. The country recorded its highest temperature so far on May 6: 44.1 degrees in Thanh Hoa province.
In the hottest countries, air conditioning can become a matter of life and death. But while the devices provide cooling, they can exacerbate the problem they are supposed to help solve. Many facilities gobble up energy, including fossil fuels that cause emissions of greenhouse gases that warm the planet.
The extreme heat has led to power outages in many parts of Asia in recent weeks, including China, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The record heat will be a test for the renewable energy fleet in Asia, according to the Reuters news agency, which reports on the need for extensive upgrades to increase the reliability of the grid.
Improvements in transmission and distribution capabilities alone will require at least $2 trillion over the next decade in the Asia-Pacific region, according to firm Wood Mackenzie.
In Rajasthan, India, which is at the top in terms of the production of solar power in the country, there have been alarms about technical challenges as the use of renewable energy increases.
Both India and China are retaining – and building new – coal-fired power plants to ensure there are reserves to tap into when energy demand rises in the heat’s wake. This risks leading to increased emissions.
FACT Stressful for health
With climate change, heat waves are expected to become more common.
Sustained periods of heat during the summer can cause health problems and increased mortality. This is especially true when the heat is high throughout the day. When the nights are hot, the body does not have time to recover and it can be difficult to bring the temperature down indoors.
The negative health effects of the heat include relatively mild symptoms such as dehydration and reduced general condition, but also more serious symptoms such as heat stroke and heart attack. Negative health effects often occur already on the same day or after one to two days after high temperatures are noted.
Risk groups for heat waves are the elderly, chronically ill, people with disabilities, young children, pregnant women and people taking certain medications that affect the body’s ability to adjust body heat and fluid balance.
Source: Public Health Agency
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