SINGAPORE: Countries across Asia are reeling from another bout of extreme heat that has set seasonal temperature records across the region, raising questions about their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing climate. I have increased concerns.
After punishing heat waves across large parts of the continent in April, temperatures rise again in late May, usually the start of the cooler monsoon season.
Seasonal highs were recorded in China, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, and experts warned that more were to come.
“We can’t say that these are events that we need to get used to and adapt to and mitigate against, because they’re going to get worse as climate change progresses,” Sarah Perkins. – said Kirkpatrick, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Vietnam’s heat wave, expected to last well into June, has already forced authorities to turn off street lights and ration electricity as demand for air conditioning threatens to overwhelm the power grid.
The country recorded its highest ever temperature of 44.1 Celsius (111.4 Fahrenheit) on May 6 in Thanh Hoa province, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Hanoi. Another province came close to the record on Wednesday, reaching 43.3 degrees Celsius.
Vietnam’s national weather forecaster on Thursday warned of fire risks for residents due to high power consumption. With temperatures between 35C and 39C expected over the next two days, it also warned of risks of dehydration, exhaustion and heat stroke.
In China, Shanghai endured its hottest May day in more than a century on Monday. A day later, a weather station in Shenzhen’s southeastern tech manufacturing hub also set a May record of 40.2C. The heat wave in the south is likely to continue for a few more days.
India, Pakistan and Southeast Asia already experienced a heat wave in April, which caused widespread damage to infrastructure and increased cases of heat stroke. Bangladesh was also the hottest in 50 years, while Thailand recorded a record 45 degrees Celsius.
Seasonal temperature records also continued to fall through May, with steamy Singapore having its hottest month in 40 years.
A heat wave was “30 times more likely” to occur in April due to climate change, a team of climate researchers said last month, and current temperatures, said Chaya Vidhanaphoti of Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The rise in heat “could be caused by the same factors”. who were part of the team.
India and other countries have established protocols to deal with health risks from extreme heat, opening public “cool rooms” and restricting outdoor activities, but Vidhanaphoti said governments need to plan better. There is a need, especially to protect the most vulnerable communities.
Researchers at the University of Bristol warned in a paper published in April that regions with little experience of extreme heat could be most at risk, including eastern Russia as well as in and around the Chinese capital, Beijing. Pass districts are also more vulnerable.
But for countries like India, where humidity is already pushing “wet bulb” temperatures to unsafe levels, preparing for the worst may not be enough, said Vicky Thompson, lead author of the paper.
“At some point we reach a point where humans are actually able to cope with temperature,” he said. “There might have been a point where no one could compete with them.”
Scientists warned in another study published last week that if the world stays on its current track of an average rise of 2.7 degrees Celsius this century, as many as 2 billion people will be exposed to dangerous heat.