Many major cities in India are currently on a heatwave and thousands of people have died in these cities due to heatwaves or extreme cold and heat in the last 12 years. Recently, this has come to light in the report of the famous Musti Center study in the Environment International Journal.
The study was conducted by collecting data from 10 major or metro cities of the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Shimla, Varanasi. According to reports, from 2008 to 2019, around 1,116 people died every year due to severe heatwaves in these cities. According to the study, the daily rate of death due to high temperature in a single day increased by 12.2 percent to 17.8 percent and in case of heat wave for five consecutive days.
The city is in the heat of the moment
According to the study, six out of 10 cities had a high percentage of deaths due to scorching heat. These include Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Varanasi. While the top three cities are Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai where thousands of people have died due to heat waves.
What is the cause of death in these cities?
According to former DGM of IMD Dr KJ Ramesh, the increase in heatwaves every year is due to climate change and global warming. Not only this, massive construction work and pollution in cities also helps in increasing the heat. Any major city that experiences a dangerous heatwave is a jungle of concrete spreads while trees and leaves are falling.
An extreme heatwave caused this effect
According to doctors, cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death in heatwaves. People over 65 years of age and children became easy victims of heatwave. Dehydration caused by heatwave worsened cardiovascular problems and led to kidney failure or respiratory disorders leading to deaths. People who were comorbid or had neurological problems could no longer handle the high temperature and fell victim to heatstroke or heat exhaustion. According to experts, temperatures above 39 degrees Celsius have a bad effect on the body.