Extreme heatwave in Southeast Asia

(Manila) An extreme heatwave in Southeast Asia has closed thousands of schools in the Philippines, confined Thais to their homes and sent Muslim worshipers praying for rain in Bangladesh.

April is considered one of the hottest months in these countries, but this year the heatwave is exacerbated by the El Niño climatic phenomenon, which causes mercury surges close to records.

In Asia, the impact of heat waves is becoming more and more severe, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a press release on Tuesday. The year 2023 was the hottest on record worldwide.

On Wednesday, authorities in the Philippines advised the population not to venture outside.

“It’s so hot that we can’t breathe,” says Erlin Tumaron, 60, who works in a seaside resort in the northern Philippines, where the temperature felt reached 47 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

Felt temperatures – taking into account, in addition to temperature, different weather factors, such as wind or humidity – were expected to reach 42°C or more on Wednesday in at least 30 cities and municipalities in the Philippines.

The Ministry of Education said that nearly 6,700 schools had suspended their face-to-face classes on Wednesday.

Workers on the verge of fainting

In Thailand, millions of residents of the capital Bangkok were asked to stay at home on Wednesday, due to a heat index deemed “extremely dangerous”.

“Please refrain from spending time outdoors,” warned the Bangkok Municipality (BMA) on Facebook.

The National Meteorological Institute forecasts heat reaching 39°C on Wednesday in the capital.

In this metropolis of ten million inhabitants and a mecca for world tourism, temperatures could rise further in the coming days.

Workers forced to stay outside, such as scooter delivery men or food sellers, try to stay in the shade and drink to survive these conditions, made worse by air pollution.

“Sometimes I feel dizzy, but not so dizzy that I pass out,” says Buppha Nakhin, who sells grilled meatballs on a sidewalk in central Bangkok.

“I feel like I’m going to faint when I work outside, but I have no choice,” adds Boonsri Waenkaew, a motorcycle taxi.

Pray for rain

In Bangladesh, thousands of Muslim worshipers decided to pray for rain on Wednesday in mosques and countryside across the country, where schools were closed until the end of the month.

“Praying for rain is a tradition of our prophet,” Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an imam, told AFP after his morning prayer in front of a thousand worshipers in central Dhaka.

“Life has become unbearable because of the lack of rain,” he stressed. “The poor suffer enormously.”

Temperatures reached more than 42°C last week in this country. According to the weather service, average maximum temperatures in the capital Dhaka this week were 4 to 5 degrees Celsius higher than the 30-year average over the same period.

“This month of April was one of the hottest since independence” in 1971, Tariful Newaz Kabir, a meteorologist, told AFP.

Hospitals in the southern coastal district of Patuakhali have reported local outbreaks of diarrhea due to rising temperatures and increased salinity in local water sources, state medical officer Bhupen Chandra Mondal told AFP.

“The number of diarrhea patients is very high this year,” he continued, concluding that “this is all linked to climate change.”