Call for action as heatwave kills hundreds in Pakistan

UCA News reporter

A man takes a shower amid a deadly heat wave in Pakistan that has reportedly left hundreds dead. (Photo: AFP)

A leading charity group and rights body have called on authorities to take immediate action amid a killer heatwave sweeping over Pakistan that has left hundreds of people dead in the South Asian nation in little more than a week.

The mercury has been hovering over 40 degrees Celsius for days in various parts of the country, the state-run Meteorological department reported.

Almost 700 people have died due to the heat, with most deaths recorded in the port city of Karachi, the country's financial hub and capital of Sidh province, according to the Edhi Foundation.

Since June 21, a total of 688 bodies have been brought to mortuaries run by the foundation, Faisal Edhi, a trustee of the charity, told UCA News on June 27.

The number of bodies arriving daily at Karachi's central morgue operated by the foundation has doubled, he said.

About 120 were brought on June 26 and most of them were women, children and the elderly. People are suffering with 18-hour daily power cuts which also stop the water supply. The heatwave has worsened the situation, he added.

Edhi called the situation a man-made calamity.

The government should provide relief from load shedding [power cuts], especially in slums, he added.

The nation of more than 241 million people has been suffering from a massive economic crisis fueled by foreign debts and dwindling foreign currency reserves.

Pakistan's foreign currency reserve was US$14.207 billion as of June 21, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Latest figures from last December showed Pakistan's total external debt was more than US$131 billion.

Media reports say various regions have been enduring longer power cuts, lasting up to 12-18 hours a day, due to much less power generation compared to high demand during the hot summer season amid a shortage of fuel for power plants.

The demand for electricity across Pakistan has risen to 26,500 megawatts, outstripping the current production capacity of 20,253 megawatts, The Express Tribune reported on June 26.

Experts blame climate change impacts for extreme weather events like heatwaves and flooding in the country.  

Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it ranks as the eighth most vulnerable country to climate change in the Global Climate Risk Index Report.

The deadly heatwave has prompted precautionary measures in religious worship places.

St. Thomas Church in Karachi installed water coolers. The adjoining school has been providing ice-cold water to worshipers.

Lazar Masih, 70, a local Catholic who regularly visited the church to worship, died from a heart attack on June 25.

Masih used to live in a small two-room brick house with five family members.

Despite intense heat, he used to visit the church with his son, a laborer, on a motorcycle. The situation here is unbearable amid high humidity but we cannot afford alternative power supplies, Sonia, his daughter-in-law, told UCA News.

An official with Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Sindh province admitted there had been many deaths due to the heatwave but failed to provide figures.

Shahrukh Nazar, a PDMA data analyst, said that at least 166 livestock have also perished in the heatwave, and hospitals had reported higher numbers of admissions over the past week or so.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan expressed alarm over the number of deaths and urged the government to compensate the families of the dead.  

Given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and the scale of the impact, Pakistan can no longer afford to treat the climate crisis as a distant problem, the commission said in a June 26 press release.

All three tiers of government — federal, provincial and local — must respond urgently to the situation and institute measures to prevent such deaths in the future, it said.

This should include setting up emergency roadside camps, cooling centers and public access to potable water. Local hospitals, clinics and charities must be on alert to receive and treat victims of heat exhaustion, especially among daily-wage workers, the commission said.

In the long term, the government must also invest in affordable low-carbon cooling technologies and practices and revise its infrastructure development priorities in a way that prevents heat buildup, including public green spaces and public transport, it added.