On April 29, in Amritsar, India, people drank cold drinks to cool off. The pictures are all from Xinhua News Agency
Agence France-Presse reported on April 28 that many south Asian countries are "withering" in the heat wave. Millions of people across India and Pakistan were sweating profusely in dangerous heat waves on Thursday, with both electricity and water rushing, and South Asia was experiencing the "scorching heat" that occurs every year.
According to the news of India's New Delhi Television Station on the 29th, parts of India are currently experiencing a "rather ruthless" heat wave. In many cities and even remote villages in India, temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
Agence France-Presse reported that due to the surge in electricity consumption of air conditioners and fans, the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have adopted power curtailment measures for factories. Power plants are reportedly facing a shortage of coal, which is the main source of electricity in India, which has a population of about 1.4 billion.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an online meeting: "Temperatures across the country are rising rapidly, and it is too early than usual. "Over the past few days, we have seen an increase in fire incidents in various places such as jungles, important buildings and hospitals. ”
Heat waves have killed more than 6,500 people in India since 2010. Scientists say climate change has made hot weather worse and more frequent in South Asia.
No relief from the high temperatures in parts of India is expected in the coming days. India's meteorological department said in a weather assessment report on Thursday that "the northern plains and central regions are likely to experience heatwaves this week", in addition, "extreme heat weather" is also expected in the western part of Rajasthan from May 1 to 2.
According to India's New Delhi Television, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said it expects to continue hot weather across India for at least the next 5 days. IMD also issued a "yellow alert" for Delhi. Plus, as the heat wave intensified, funny memes and strips proliferated on Twitter.
Some netizens posted a video of baking cakes on the hood of a car ↓
"Congratulations to India! We were able to finally put flapjacks on the hood of the car."
Some netizens shared a GIF of a family in Calcutta, where people in the house were almost burning because of the heat, while the sun outside the window was laughing evilly
Some netizens sent cartoon pictures of roast chicken in high temperature ↓
"Heat waves sweep through northern India Indians don't waste heat waves"
There are also netizens' memes showing that Indian cities are located between the earth and the sun ↓
"Delhi now (location)"
"That's how Mumbai feels today."
"I need this cat man thermometer"
According to Agence France-Presse, Pakistan's meteorological department warned that temperatures in parts of Pakistan are expected to be 8 degrees Celsius higher than in the same period in previous years, with parts of Sindh province peaking at 48 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
In this case, Pakistani farmers have to conserve water. Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan's economy, absorbing about 40 percent of the workforce. Sheri Rahman, minister responsible for climate change, said: "Pakistan's public health and agriculture sectors will face serious threats due to extreme heat this year. ”
Mariam Zakaria, of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, said: "Before human activity caused global temperatures to rise, high temperatures like the one that India experienced would occur about once every 50 years or so. But now, this is happening more commonly – we can expect this high temperature to occur every 4 years. This will be more common without a strong push to reduce emissions. ”
Editor: Shi Wei