India reported 40,000 suspected heat stroke cases this summer: UN report | Latest News India
New Delhi: India reported 40,000 cases of suspected heat stroke and over 100 deaths since the onset of summer in 2024, as of mid-June 30, according to a report from the United Nations Call to Action on Extreme Heat.
(Representative Photos)
The UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat brings together perspectives of ten specialised UN entities, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in a first-of-its-kind joint product, underscoring the multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat, UN said in a statement on Thursday.
“In the past 100 days alone, we witnessed heat-related deaths in countries from Saudi Arabia to India, heatstroke warnings across Japan, schools closing in Bangladesh and the Philippines, severe heat warnings issued by governments in Southeast Europe, and new temperature records across the United States,” the Call to Action said.
The UN declaration came a day after the Earth Sciences ministry informed the Lok Sabha that the 15th Finance Commission did not find much merit in the request to expand the scope of disasters eligible for financial assistance and hence extreme heat is not yet considered to be a natural disaster or calamity eligible for assistance. Responding to another question, the ministry said that heat wave deaths are reducing in the country due to better weather prediction.
Modelled estimates show that between the years 2000 and 2019, approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred each year, with 45% of these in Asia and 36% in Europe, the UN further said.
Heat exposure-related loss in labour capacity resulted in average potential income losses equivalent to US$863 billion in 2022, it said.
“Secretary-General is issuing a global call to action on extreme heat in four critical areas: Care for the vulnerable; protect workers; boost the resilience of our economies and societies using data and science, and limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. Extreme heat impacts virtually everything we do, and every aspect of our lives,” the report read.
New data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) warns that over 70% of the global workforce – 2.4 billion people – are now at high risk of extreme heat, resulting in 22.85 million injuries and 18,970 deaths annually among workers. “Workers in Africa, the Arab states, and Asia and the Asia-Pacific are most exposed to excessive heat. In these regions, 93 per cent, 84 per cent, and 75% of the workforce are affected, respectively As daily temperatures rise above 34°C, labour productivity begins to drop by 50%,” the report said.
A triple strategy of passive cooling, higher energy efficiency and fast phasedown of climate-warming refrigerants offers the opportunity to reduce emissions from the cooling sector while protecting an additional 3.5 billion people at risk from heat by 2050, the UN said.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that peak temperatures in heat waves will increase significantly faster than global mean and local average temperatures. An extreme heat event that would have occurred once in 50 years in a climate without human influence is now nearly five times more likely. Such an event is projected to be nearly 9 times more likely under 1.5°C and 14 times more likely under 2°C and bring heat and humidity levels that are far more dangerous, UN has flagged.
UNICEF found that by 2050, if the current trend continues, almost every child under 18 in the world – nearly 2.2 billion – will be exposed to high heat wave frequency, up from only 24% of children in 2020. Heat-related mortality for people over 65 years of age increased by approximately 85% between 2000-2004 and 2018-2022.
The UN has recommended that countries adopt evidence-based policies, regulations multi-dimensional risk assessments and community-driven actions to protect the most vulnerable; enhance social protection schemes to integrate specific measures that help address the risks of extreme heat; implement urgent measures to protect the health and lives of all workers in all sectors and in all regions of the world from the risk of extreme heat through a rights-based approach; urgently review the laws and regulations on occupational safety and health to integrate provisions for extreme heat; develop and implement comprehensive, risk-informed heat action plans (and cooling plans) in all countries and all sectors among others.
“Every fraction of a degree of warming matters. With every additional increment of global warming, changes in extremes, impacts and risks become larger. Limiting global warming to below 1.5°C will significantly reduce the risks, adverse impacts and related human suffering from climate change, including extreme heat,” the report added.
It was the warmest June for northwest India since record-keeping began in 1901 according to the India Meteorological Department. The mean temperature in June was 31.73°C C, 1.65°C above normal. The average maximum temperature over the region was 38.2°C, nearly 2°C above normal and even the minimum temperature was the second highest since 1901 at 25.44°C, 1.35°C above normal.
There were reports of at least 100 deaths from different parts of north India this summer. The Centre, however, has not released the data.
East and northeast India also recorded its warmest June in terms of nighttime temperatures, recording an average minimum temperature of 25.14°C, nearly 1°C above normal.
Compared to a normal of 3-4 days of heat wave, parts of Indo-Gangetic plains, northwest India, central and north India recorded a range of 10 to 18 heat wave days in June.
Uttar Pradesh recorded 18 heat wave days; Bihar 13; Gangetic West Bengal nine; Delhi, Haryana region recorded 14; Punjab 11; Himachal Pradesh 10 days, among others.
According to the India Meteorological Department, between April to June, 20 to 38 days of heat waves days were recorded in different parts of east, north and central India Most frequent heat waves (20-38 days) were recorded over Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West and East UP and Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Saurashtra and Kutch. The deadly heat spell recorded over Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of northwest India killed at least 100 people.
In April, east and southeast peninsular India saw an intense spell of humid heat (between April 5 and 7), and Odisha and West Bengal, one between April 15 and 30, which expanded over days to Bihar, Jharkhand and south peninsular India.
In May, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal and parts of peninsular India saw an intense spell of heat (between May 1 and 7), Rajasthan, between May 16 and 26, with 9-12 days that were classified either a heat wave or a severe heat wave (with temperatures nearing 50 °C on some days), and Delhi and the National Capital Region, Haryana, southwest Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, also between May 16 and 26, with five to seven days that were classified a heat wave, with temperatures between 44°C and 48°C.
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