'It's like a fire': India and Pakistan grapple with extreme temperatures

"There is a real risk of shortage of food and harvests this year in the country, if this lack of water is to persist" in Pakistan.

South Asia is facing abnormally high temperatures. In Pakistan, some places reached 50°. This is the case of Jacobabad, in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh. People struggle to find drinking water.

Jacobabad again! Today 14 May the Pakistani town of Jacobabad rose to 51.0C,highest temperature of 2022 in the world (above the 50.7C recorded in Australia). 50.5C also at Nawabshah and 50.0C at Moen Jo Daro. Later a tweet about India. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/mdioIRQzf8

— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) May 14, 2022

According to Agence France Presse, the authorities warn of the risk of water shortages and the serious threat to health.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the United Nations evokes a record heat wave which has hit India and Pakistan since April, and which would be “consistent” with climate change.

"It's like a fire burning all around," said Shafi Mohammad, a farm worker from a village near Jacobabad.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Service (PMD), these temperatures are between 6 and 9° “above normal (seasonal)”. According to the service's chief forecaster, "the intensity, duration and frequency (of these heat waves) are increasing".

Spokesman for the Department of Irrigation in Punjab, Adnan Hassan, laments a reduction in the flow of the Indus by 65% ​​this year "due to lack of rains and snow". Yet, according to the UN, its basin provides 90% of Pakistan's water supply. Adnan Hassan affirms, "there is a real risk of shortage of food and harvests this year in the country, if this lack of water is to persist".

MC (with AFP)

Image credit: Shutterstock /Photor Delhi / A little boy cools off in a well, 11/04/2022, Delhi