NEW DELHI
\nMillions sweltered in an early summer heatwave across India and Pakistan on Thursday, leading to power and water shortages as annual furnace-like temperatures hit South Asia.
\nIn New Delhi, a burning rubbish dump choked residents for a third day with temperatures crossing 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in parts of South Asia on Thursday \u2014 several degrees higher than normal \u2014 and forecasters warning that it will get even hotter this weekend.
\nHeatwaves have killed over 6,500 people in India since 2010, and scientists say climate change is making them harsher and more frequent across the region. \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve seen such horrible weather in April. Usually, we\u2019re prepared for this in May and onwards,\u201d said 30-year-old Delhi housewife Somya Mehra, as she and her family thirstily searched for a cold drink.
\n\u201cToday we stepped out because of our anniversary but otherwise I\u2019m not stepping out at all. I\u2019ve stopped sending my kid out to play\u201d. The Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh imposed power cuts on factories as consumption for air conditioning and fans skyrocketed.
\nMedia reports said that power stations were also facing shortages of coal \u2014the main source of electricity in the nation of 1.4 billion people. Many regions also reported falling water supplies that will only worsen until the annual monsoon rains in June and July.
\nWater shortages will hit farmers hardest, including those growing wheat as India aims to boost exports to help ease a global shortage due to the war in Ukraine. Temperatures are expected to be up to eight degrees higher than usual in parts of Pakistan, with the mercury peaking at 48 degrees in parts of rural Sindh on Wednesday, Pakistan\u2019s Meteorological Society warned.
\nFarmers have to use water sparingly in a country where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and accounts for around 40 percent of the workforce.
\n\u201cPublic health and agriculture in the country will face serious threats due to the extreme temperature this year,\u201d climate change minister Sherry Rehman said. Last month was the hottest March on record since 1961, the Pakistani Met office said.
\nComing during the month of Ramazan, the heat makes fasting in both India and Pakistan even tougher for Muslims \u2014 who shun even water during daylight hours. \u201cTemperatures are rising rapidly in the country, and rising much earlier than usual,\u201d Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday, adding that India has seen \u201cincreasing incidents of fires in various places — in forests, important buildings and in hospitals \u2014 in the past few days.\u201d
\nIn New Delhi, a 60-metre high rubbish mountain has been ablaze since Tuesday, which firefighting teams have been battling with lorry-loads of sand and mud. The inferno, belching toxic black smoke that engulfed nearby districts, was the fourth such incident at a landfill site in the megacity of 20 million people in less than a month.
\nPradeep Khandelwal, the former head of Delhi\u00b4s waste management, said they were likely sparked by warmer temperatures speeding up the decomposition of organic waste. \u201cThe dry and hot weather produces excess methane gas at the dumping sites that trigger such fires,\u201d Khandelwal told media.
\n\u201cBefore human activities increased global temperatures, we would have seen the heat that hit India earlier this month around once in 50 years,\u201d said Mariam Zachariah from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
\n\u201cBut now it is a much more common event — we can expect such high temperatures about once in every four years. And until net emissions are halted, it will continue to become even more common\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI Millions sweltered in an early summer heatwave across India and Pakistan on Thursday, leading to power and water shortages as annual furnace-like temperatures hit South Asia. In New Delhi, a burning rubbish dump choked residents for a third day with temperatures crossing 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in parts of South Asia on Thursday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6677,6679,6678,6676,408],"class_list":{"0":"post-258205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-burn","9":"tag-delhi","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-rubbish-dump","12":"tag-south-asia"},"yoast_head":"\n