Heatwave Hazards

Pakistan was most affected due to regional greenhouse emissions (GHGs). Pakistan has less than one per cent GHG  emissions but the developed world has neglected the country despite its increased burden on natural disasters. Pakistan has seen as many as 152  extreme weather events in the past 20 years. United Nations (UN) has put Pakistan among the top 23  most drought-hit countries and is among the top ten affected countries due to climate change. The heatwave has spiked up almost all over the country and gained longevity, the glaciers in the north are melting rapidly because of prolonged and extreme temperature spikes in the country. Pakistan is in the grip of a severe heatwave for the last couple of months and traditionally spring months of March and April have been turned into the hottest months in most parts of the country. March 2022 remained the hottest recorded since 1961. During the past two months or so,  people in both India and Pakistan  have experienced  levels of heat higher that  national and global records.  The Meteorological Department of Pakistan has already hinted at the current heatwave persisting  till June 2022. Pakistan has thus entered, for the first time, summers without any spring season and if adequate measures for appropriate preparedness were not taken timely,  then it may occur again in the next year due to global warming.

 Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a Task Force on Climate Change in view of the country’s currently facing heatwave and melting of glaciers. The Task Force so formed has been tasked to develop a comprehensive strategy on a priority basis to mitigate the effects of climate change in the country and to prevent incidents such as the glacier incident in  Hunza. Quite appreciably, the Prime Minister has directed all concerned ministries and agencies concerned at the federal and provincial levels to take immediate measures for preventing food and water shortages and ensuring the conservation of water and forests in the country. Pakistan is the third-most water-stressed country in the world and most unfortunately, its status is gradually shifting from a water-stressed to a water-scarce nation, which will obviously have a huge adverse impact on the country.

A recent glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) incident occurred due to a melting glacial lake formed at Shisper Glacier that partially damaged the Karakoram Highway. According to the figures available from official sources, there are 30-31 potential lakes to outburst out of 3044 total serious glacial lakes. Shisper glacier was formed in 2018 and is a surging glacier, which some senior officials visited in February 2021. The first warning  for GLOF at Shisper was received on March 16. If there have been no life and livestock losses reported, this was mainly due to the early warning and preparedness by the agencies concerned at Gilgit-Baltistan and Hunza.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman along with senior federal and provincial officials concerned as well as the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) highlighted various aspects of the onrushing climate change, global warning and prevailing heatwave in most parts of the country while addressing a news conference some days back in Islamabad.

Ministry for Climate Change senior official  said on the occasion that  in Pakistan  climate science  a matter of decades to come, the scientific models predicted for 2030 have already started  activating  10 years before the projected  timelines

It is good to note that given the prevailing severe heatwave in most parts of the country, Federal Ministry for Climate Change has already established more than 1000  heatwave centres each in Sindh and Punjab provinces and the ministry was also issuing advisories to the provinces in this regard regularly.

Way back in 2015, an extended heatwave in the sub-continent had resulted in more than 2500 deaths in India and over 1200 casualties in Pakistan mostly in Karachi,. According to Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report, cities like Karachi in Pakistan are most likely to experience conditions equivalent to the 2015 heatwave on a basis of 1.5  degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels, the goal for limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Population density, the scale of economic activity and rapid urbanisation in the region all make Indo-Pakistan more vulnerable to extreme weather events, according to the weather and global warming experts.

Heatwaves are prolonged periods of excessive heat with temperatures more than 10 degrees higher than normal. According to the World Health  Organisation (WHO), exposure to high levels of heat can cause exhaustion, heat strokes and hyperthermia. Deaths or hospitalisation are likely to occur either immediately or after some days of exposure, which can also worsen chronic illnesses including cardiovascular, respiratory and diabetes-related conditions.

The human body has limited ability to adapt to heatwave like temperatures, a term that accounts for both heat and humidity, around 95 degrees Farhanheat is considered the upper limit that human beings can survive above which prolonged exposure can prove fatal, the experts have duly warned.

Save yourself and your families from heatwave hazards, take preventive measures, avoid avoidable and non-essential exposure to excessive heat and remain alive and healthy while praying to Almighty Allah all the time for the safety of all around you, in the country and the world as good-natured Pakistani human beings, please.