Beat the heat

In recent years, hot weather in Pakistan has moved from being an occasional summer inconvenience to a relentless, life-threatening condition. And just because the monsoon has now made its entrance, does not mean the heat has left. It returns in fits and starts, often accompanied by choking humidity and intensified by the absence of wind. Instead of bringing relief, the rain brings a fresh set of burdens: flooded roads, waterborne illnesses, overwhelmed drainage systems, and the collapse of civic infrastructure. What Pakistanis are experiencing today is not ‘weather’ but the lived reality of climate breakdown. And this is not just anecdotal. According to the World Meteorological Organisation's new State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report, Asia is warming at nearly twice the global average, triggering a dramatic rise in extreme weather events. For Pakistan, this means devastating heatwaves, prolonged summers even in the northern highlands, and increasingly unpredictable rain patterns. The effects are deadly. A recent analysis has warned that between 2026 and 2050, nearly 15.6 million people in low- and middle-income countries may lose their lives due to climate-sensitive diseases. These numbers are not distant projections; they are warnings rooted in today's suffering.

Punjab and Sindh, Pakistan’s agricultural and population hubs, are now routinely battered by temperatures nearing 46 C. In such brutal conditions, labourers, police, traffic wardens, and delivery riders must