Early heatwave

The month of May is barely half-done, yet according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the country might already have a heatwave on its hands. The PMD has predicted that high pressure will likely grip most parts of the country this week, and day temperatures will remain 4-6C above normal in the country’s southern half, including Sindh, southern Punjab and Balochistan, until May 20. Day temperatures are also likely to remain 5C to 7C above normal in the country’s upper half, which encompasses central & upper Punjab, Islamabad, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, too until May 19. After the extreme heat subsides, the country’s upper areas will likely receive rain, thunderstorms and perhaps even some isolated hailstorms. Getting a heatwave in May is unusual, even for a country like Pakistan, which is no stranger to hot weather though, given that the world just faced the second-hottest April on record and Pakistan is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, the heatwave is not exactly a surprise.

Hopefully, the extreme heat will be as short-lived as the PMD predicts and the heavy rain will be shorter still. Pakistan is not very good at protecting its people from extreme weather and reports have found that the absence of timely and adequate emergency measures during previous flood and heatwave crises has led to many preventable deaths. While the authorities have issued precautionary notices to the people, telling them to avoid direct exposure to sunlight and stay hydrated, even such basic activities are a luxury for many Pakistanis. For one, most of the country’s population is involved in agriculture and the ‘kharif’ or sowing season is right around the corner. Farmers, already struggling with water shortages, are unlikely to remain indoors over the coming days and will have to endure the brutal heat, as they always do. The same goes for the labourers, street vendors and other low-income groups who comprise the greater part of Pakistan’s major cities. Every day they do not go out to earn is a day their families risk not getting any food. This is how the country’s everyday inequalities only enhance its vulnerability to extreme weather and the global climate change that fuels it.

Internal inequalities aside, the country’s overall exposure to global warming is the result of a deeply unfair global system. Pakistan contributes to less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but its people are suffering more from the consequences of these emissions than those of any of the major polluters. To make matters worse, the latter still refuse to offer any meaningful assistance to countries like Pakistan despite clearly having a responsibility to do so, at least, not to the extent that they would be expected to. As such, the country will have to rely on what resources it has to overcome current and forthcoming environmental challenges. We can start by getting the basics right. For the ongoing heatwave, cooling centres must be established in all low-income areas, there needs to be clear and widespread communication to the people about what to do during extreme heat, and hospitals need to be ready to receive an influx of patients suffering from heat-related symptoms.