2019 heat wave in India and Pakistan

Heat waves worldwide have become more extreme and more frequent due to human-influenced climate change and global warming.[15][16][17] Since 2004, India and Pakistan have experienced 11 of its 15 warmest recorded years.[18] The frequency and duration of heat waves in India and Pakistan has increased. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology has identified several contributing factors, including "El Niño Modoki", an irregular El Niño in which the central Pacific Ocean is warmer than the eastern part, and the loss of tree cover, which reduces shade, increasing temperatures, and reduces moisture in soil, which results in less evapotranspiration and more heat transfer into the atmosphere.[19][20]

In response to the growing number of deaths from heat waves, the Indian government, although not addressing the root causes, began implementing measures intended to save lives in 2013. In Ahmedabad, for example, "school days were reduced, government work programs ceased, and free water was distributed in busy areas." Public gardens were opened during the daytime so that people could seek shade. Professor of public health Parthasarathi Ganguly estimated that 800 fewer people died in 2014 as a result of these policies.[21]

In India, the rainy monsoon season typically begins on 1 June. However, in 2019, the season was delayed by seven days and began on 8 June. When it did occur, the monsoon made slow progress and only brought rains to 10–15% of the country by 19 June. Normally, two-thirds of the country would have received monsoon rains by this time. The lack of rainfall has intensified heat wave conditions and increased water scarcity.[22]

2019 Indo-Pakistani heat wave affected areas. NASA Earth observatory.

The heat wave has caused multiple deaths and cases of illness. As of 31 May 2019, 8 deaths and 456 cases of illness due to heat were reported in Maharashtra, at least 17 deaths in Telangana, and 3 deaths and 433 cases of heat stroke in Andhra Pradesh.[19] On 10 June 2019, three passengers were found dead on a train as it arrived in Jhansi, apparently due to the extreme heat. A fourth passenger was found in critical condition and brought to a hospital where they died of overheating.[23] In the state of Bihar, heat-related deaths reached 184 on 18 June according to Al Jazeera,[8] while according to Zee News the death toll was 139 on 19 June 2019.[24]

High temperatures have broken or nearly broken records in various cities across India and Pakistan. At one point, 11 of the 15 warmest places in the world were all located in the country.[18] On 2 June 2019, the city of Churu recorded a temperature of 50.8 °C (123.4 °F), only one-fifth of a degree Celsius short of the country's highest-ever temperature, 51 °C (124 °F) during the 2016 heat wave.[6] On 9 June 2019, Allahabad reached 48.9 °C (120.0 °F), breaking its previous all-time record.[18] On 3 and 4 June 2019, the temperature in Jacobabad reached 49 °C (120 °F) making Pakistan's highest-ever temperature.[25] On 10 June 2019, the temperature in Delhi reached 48 °C (118 °F), a new record high for the city in the month of June.[26][27][28] On the same day, peak power usage in Delhi reached 6,686 MW, breaking all previous records.[7] On 29 June 2019, the temperature in Islamabad and Rawalpindi reached 42 °C (108 °F).[2]

The total number of deaths is unknown. For comparison, the 2003 European heat wave killed an estimated 35,000–70,000 people,[29] with temperatures slightly less than in India and Pakistan. In human temperature physiology, core temperatures of 40.0 or 41.5 °C (104.0 or 106.7 °F) are said to be a fever of type hyperpyrexia, and considered a medical emergency as temperature may lead to problems including permanent brain damage, or death.[30]

The Indian National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had a goal for keeping heat related deaths this year to single digits. In 2018, the heat wave death toll was kept at 20 through public safety measures; for example, government workers across the country conducted awareness campaigns and distributed free water. However in 2019, the national general election took place and workers who normally issued heat wave warnings were instead performing election duties.[35]

In early June, the Indian Meteorological Department issued a severe heat wave warning in Rajasthan and nearby areas such as Delhi.[6] The Ministry of Health advised avoiding the sun between noon and 3 p.m. and not drinking alcohol, tea, or coffee. Meanwhile the NDMA recommended covering the head, cross-ventilating rooms, and sleeping under a slightly wet sheet.[36]

Asphalt used for roads expectantly begins to melt at 50 °C (122 °F); therefore, on 3 June, the government of Churu poured water onto roads in order to cool them and prevent them from melting.[37]

In response to fights over water in Madhya Pradesh, the police were deployed to guard water tankers and other sources of water from rioters, beginning 8 June.[14]

On 17 June, the government of Gaya, a city in Bihar, imposed Section 144 to be active, which empowers an executive magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four persons in an area, and banned construction work and assemblies between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.[24]

The Pakistan Medical Association urged people to learn about the measures to avoid heat-related deaths.[38]