In India, the official criteria of a heatwave is when the temperature exceeds 37 degrees Celsius, with authorities saying such levels could be fatal.
MUMBAI: Activists are calling for India’s government to do more as the country faces surging heatwaves amid global warming.
This includes the urgent implementation of heat action plans as the extreme conditions become unbearable and claim lives.
Another suggestion includes the creation of a “chief heat officer”, an approach that has been adopted in other parts of the world to help tackle the problem.
In India, the official criteria of a heatwave is when the temperature exceeds 37 degrees Celsius.
Such temperatures can be fatal to the human body, said authorities.
The sweltering heat is taking its toll on Mumbai, with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius, prompting heatwave warnings to be issued.
In the city of Navi Mumbai, 14 people have died of heatstroke as hundreds of thousands gathered in the blazing sun for an awards ceremony recently.
Social worker K Kumar, who was part of the crowd on that fateful day, told CNA: “The event was happening in an open ground. It's surrounded by small hills, but they're a little far away, so the heat got trapped, because it was an open ground with not many trees and not much shade.
“People got too hot and many had heat strokes.”
From 2017 to 2021, 55 per cent more people died from heatwaves, compared to the period from 2000 to 2004, according to the medical journal Lancet.
Official data has also shown that India's heatwaves are lasting longer.
Last year, India reported over six times more heatwave days than the year before.
The country also experienced its warmest February this year, since records began in 1901.
India's weather office predicted that many parts of the country will see higher-than-normal temperatures, heading into the hot season lasting until June.
The heatwave is “very serious” as it is “literally taking lives of people”, said Mr Avinash Chanchal, campaign manager for climate and energy at Greenpeace India.
“The government needs to ensure a plan to tackle this whole thing. And also, it's impacting the Indian economy,” he said.
According to economists, the heat has a devastating impact on agriculture, causes a loss in labour hours, and drives up energy and healthcare costs.
The Indian government said it is working with 23 states in India which are vulnerable to high temperatures, to implement heat action plans.
These include early warning systems and precautionary steps to prepare for the impact of extreme temperatures.
However, activists like Mr Chanchal say that progress is proving too slow.
“Most of the time, we are seeing that there is a huge gap in heatwave action plans,” he said, citing the example of Delhi which has seen heatwaves for years but still has not created one.
The vulnerable are the worst affected by rising temperatures.
The United Nations (UN) warned that developing countries need five to 10 times more funding than they have currently to manage the impact of climate change.
Efforts have also been made to create a new administrative post called a chief heat officer, to lead the charge on combating the challenges.
Such a role was first set up in Miami in the US in 2021, and has since spread to cities including Melbourne, Australia and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Chief heat officers are generally appointed at a city level to tackle issues locally.
The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, which is behind the initiative, said it has seen some interest for such a step in India.
Its director Kathy Baughman McLeod told CNA: “As chief heat officer, their role is to wake up everyday, thinking about how to protect people and their livelihoods from extreme heat.”
However, she stressed that more coordinated action is still needed.
“India is heating up more quickly than other parts of the world, there are a few places in the world where the heat is exponentially rising,” she said.
“While chief heat officers at the local level are really effective, a national network with local, state, provincial and national leaders, be it the chief heat officers or otherwise, is needed now and will definitely be needed in the future to handle the size of this impact.”
Authorities in Navi Mumbai ordered new wards for heatwave patients to be set up in hospitals, in the aftermath of the tragedy.
There are also plans to install a weather station in that area to warn residents when temperatures are rising to dangerous levels.