Can you imagine walking out of the house like walking into an oven?
Since the beginning of summer in 2024, many parts of the mainland have experienced high temperatures, but if you look at India next door, you will consider yourself lucky.
This summer, many cities in India are experiencing unimaginable heat, with temperatures exceeding 45°C for several days in a row, and the capital New Delhi has set a high temperature record of 52.9°C!
Despite the annual heat, this year's heatwave has been particularly ferocious, making it the longest on record in the country. The continuous high temperatures and scorching sun have not only changed the daily life of Indians, but also brought various challenges to their survival.
According to Indian media statistics, more than 200 people have died in India since the summer of this year due to hot weather! Between March and May, 25,000 people were hospitalized with heat stroke in India, and hospitals are receiving heat stroke patients almost every day......
Survival is a problem:
Hot weather exacerbates India's water crisis
The continuous heat has taken a toll on ordinary people in India, and even the mosquitoes, which are frequent visitors to the summer, have disappeared because of this extreme heat wave, and they don't know whether to say it is a good thing or a bad thing......
This unusually extreme weather begs the question, why is it so hot in India this year? When will this high temperature "go away"? Will we be affected in China?
In the midst of persistent high temperatures, water has become the most difficult issue for Indians.
Due to persistently high temperatures and scarce rainfall, many reservoirs in India are on the verge of drying up and river levels are falling. As a result, people in India have difficulty accessing water, and even water coming out of the tap is like boiling water.
At present, the Indian people can only rely on the government's water trucks to provide daily water, but due to the large-scale water shortage problem, the water trucks have been difficult to meet the daily needs of many residents, which has also led to the Indian people can only struggle to support in the case of high temperature and water shortage.
Even the animals in India are in dire straits, with large numbers of animals flocking to residential areas due to lack of water and unbearable heat.
In an irrigation well in the Indian state of Jharkhand, 32 hungry monkeys reportedly jumped into the steep well in a desperate search for water due to extreme temperatures, but could not escape and had to drown alive......
You may say, then why don't Indians turn on the air conditioner? Actually, it's not because they don't want to open it, but because they can't!
Due to the hot weather, except for a few wealthy people who leave their air conditioners on all day, India's electricity consumption is increasing.
However, the Indian government is too backward in power construction, and it has not yet reached the level that it should be as a populous country, and the power supply is not enough to meet the current electricity demand.
The lack of electricity supply has led to air conditioners in many places being used as decorations. Nearly 40 monkeys drowned in an irrigation well in search of water in Jharkhand, illustrating how severe the heat has become.
At the same time, for most ordinary people, air conditioning is a luxury, and they simply cannot afford expensive air conditioning. In order to make a living, they had to brave the heat to go out to work, let alone enjoy the cool air conditioning at home.
In the face of such high temperatures, power outages and water shortages make life extremely difficult. New Delhi residents often experience 20-30 power outages in a single day, and many have batteries in their homes to cope with such situations.
This scorching heat has undoubtedly had a serious impact on India's poor people, and even endangered their survival.
This unusually extreme weather raises the question of whether India is really still suitable for human habitation.
Boiling India:
Every summer is a life-and-death torture
Actually, this is not the first time India has experienced a hot summer. It's just that this year's heat wave came earlier, more widely, more intensely, and lasted longer than in previous years.
India is located in South Asia, close to the equator, and has a tropical monsoon climate, which is relatively hot. In addition, summer is often affected by the southwest monsoon, which often leads to hot weather.
In the south of India is a plateau region, and in the north is the Gangetic plain, and the cold air from the north is blocked by the Himalayas.
In the context of global warming, the sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean is getting higher and higher, and the warm and humid air flow over India is becoming more and more intense, while the cold air from the north cannot move south, making India like being in a huge "steamer", which makes people miserable.
For those who work outdoors, the situation is even more difficult.
Gid Singh, a 42-year-old tricycle driver, has seen his business cut by a third because of the heat, and every time he gets out of the car feels like an adventure. But he still said helplessly: "In order to support my family, I have to go on the road." ”
There was also a worker in his 40s, Pliyansh Kakirbay Patel, who was taken to the hospital late at night due to heat stroke and died in the end......
Escape in high risk
The water of the Ganges is also washed into the "periodic table"
When the heat hits, how will people save themselves first? Indians without air conditioning, what should they do in summer?
While we often laugh at India, we really can't laugh it again this time, because India is facing an unprecedented catastrophe, and it seems that their situation is simply not enough to withstand this heat wave.
With no electricity, no air conditioning, no water, the only way for the people of India to save themselves is to jump into the Ganges and take a cold shower.
It is said that the water of the Ganges River, which was originally oversped, is now even more blind!
With so many people "bathing", the Ganges is now overcrowded, and even the ancient river seems to be overwhelmed.
According to statistics, now the water flora of the Ganges River in India has seriously exceeded the standard, and a bowl of Ganges water is a whole periodic table, not to mention that drinking it may kill people, even if you take a bath here, you will suffer from serious skin diseases.
According to the statistics of the Indian health department, people who often bathe in the water of the Ganges River have a 40%~60% probability of replacing skin diseases and digestive diseases.
That is, bathing in the water of the Ganges does not solve the problem at all, but affects health.
Such a statement makes the living situation of the Indian people even more sad.
The electric air conditioner could not be used, so they invented the "earth air conditioner".
This kind of earthen air conditioner is actually a tin box with a straw curtain, which is pumped to the curtain by a small water pump, and the fan blows through the moist curtain to bring a touch of coolness. Although the effect is limited, this simple device can also make a difference on a hot summer day.
In addition to earth air conditioning, Indians have many other cooling tricks.
For example, go out fully armed and wear long sleeves and pants to avoid the sun on your skin and reduce water evaporation. At home, use thick curtains to block out the sun and keep the room relatively cool.
But the methods they can think of seem like a drop in the bucket in the face of heat disasters.
There is no grass growing around New Delhi now, because the temperature is no longer suitable for plants to live, and animals are dying, and if it continues, the people who live here will either flee or die, and sooner or later it will become an empty city.
India Summer
Why is it so hot?
Many people wonder why India and China are adjacent to each other, why can India become such a human purgatory, but China does not seem to have reached this level?
Geographically, India is located in a tropical monsoon climate zone, which is divided into dry and rainy seasons. The dry season is the hottest from April to June, with average temperatures often exceeding 40°C in the northern summer, and the weather does not ease until the rainy season arrives.
In addition, the Himalayas block the cold air from the north, allowing the heat wave to stay here for a long time. Therefore, most of China, which is separated from India by only one mountain, does not need to turn on air conditioning!
We are fortunate to live in the Himalayas.
The towering mountains of the Himalayas block the sudden attack of hot air, and the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas are connected, like a natural air conditioner, which greatly regulates the temperature of the continent, so that no matter how high the temperature is, it will not be difficult for us to survive.
India is not so lucky, it is located in the southern Himalayas, close to the equator, and has a hot climate.
New Delhi, the capital of India, is located in the hot region of India, and at the same time, it is also the most densely populated place in India.
In addition, urban planning in India is also an important factor. In the case of New Delhi, the city's vegetation cover is very low when viewed from above, resulting in a "heat island effect".
The so-called "heat island effect" simply means that the temperature in the city is higher than in the surrounding suburbs.
Because of the dense construction of the city, the heat is not easy to dissipate, and the lack of vegetation makes it difficult to effectively cool down, which also makes it difficult to drop the temperature at night, which has a great impact on the health of residents.
New Delhi is a city planned in 1911 and was designed with administrative functions and infrastructure in mind, leaving no room for parks and green space vegetation.
While the Indian government and environmental groups have been working hard to promote urban greening, there is still a long way to go.
Of course, behind this "natural disaster" of extreme high temperatures, there is also a certain "man-made disaster" factor.
With the urbanization of India, a large number of people have been born and poured into cities, resulting in the aggravation of the urban heat island effect, which has undoubtedly exacerbated the impact of hot weather on India.
As the population continues to grow, the Indian government's infrastructure and public resources are not perfect, and there are many shortcomings in the face of such extreme weather, which has led to more tragic deaths from high temperatures.
"Indian tragedy"
It's an early warning to the whole world
In fact, India's high temperature phenomenon is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of the climate crisis in the context of global warming.
With the continuous rise of global temperature, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena are increasing, and the impact on human social life is becoming more and more intense.
Global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today, and it is also something that all countries have to face together, and India, as one of the most populous countries in the world, has become the first victim of global warming.
In the face of global warming, it is all the more important for countries to strengthen ties and cooperation, jointly address difficult problems, and negotiate and formulate global climate policies.
It can be said that this extreme heat in India is not only a natural disaster, but also a global crisis, and a challenge to global cooperation to tackle climate change and achieve sustainable development.
We still have a long way to go in the face of global warming, and this is a difficult problem that needs to be faced by mankind, and we need everyone's joint efforts and cooperation to end the tragedy in India......
What do you think about this? Feel free to discuss with us!