Canada’s wildfires are a warning to India: Here is how we must shore up our cities against heatwaves
By Chandra Bhushan
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Who’d have guessed that a 49.6°C temperature would be recorded somewhere in a normally frigid Canada? Now wildfires, caused by the extreme heat, have reduced its tiny town of Lytton to ash. To put things in perspective, the maximum temperature ever recorded in Delhi is 48°C.
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Heatwaves are increasing in India: For example, researchers from IIT-Gandhinagar published a study in Environmental Research Letters in 2017 that convincingly proved a considerable rise in the frequency and severity of heatwaves from 1951 to 2015. It also revealed that the five most severe heatwaves occurred after 1990.
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It is time the central government acknowledges heatwaves as a real threat and assists states and districts in implementing heat codes and HAPs. Moreover, our scientists and planners will also have to update the definition of a heat emergency and the guidelines for dealing with it. But, let’s not forget, it is a clear and present danger, and we must deal with it urgently.
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