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India Cabbie on break due to heat wave. May and June are India's hottest months
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A heat wave in
India has killed at least 1,371 people this week as temperatures soar above 47
Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit), and doctors' leave has been cancelled to help cope
with the sick.
May and June are India's hottest months, with
temperatures regularly pushing above 40 Celsius. But meteorologists say the
number of days when temperatures approach 45 Celsius has increased in the past
15 years.
Reuters report continues:
The death toll in the worst affected states of Andhra
Pradesh in the southeast and nearby Telangana is more than double the toll from
a shorter hot spell there last year, officials said, with most of those killed
elderly or labourers suffering sunstroke or dehydration.
The toll in Andhra Pradesh alone has reached 1,020,
officials said, and deaths have been reported in at least four Indian states.
Authorities have cancelled doctors' leave and advised
people not to head outside in the middle of the day to avoid the worst of the
heat. However for many Indians, staying indoors is not an option.
"I get headaches, fever sometimes. But (if I stay
indoors) how will I make money?" scrap collector Akhlaq, 28, said in the
capital Delhi, where temperatures touched 45 Celsius on Tuesday.
The heat wave entered its sixth day in parts of the
south on Wednesday. That's double the time they generally last, according to
Y.K. Reddy, a government meteorologist in Hyderabad in one of the worst
affected regions.
Blamed
on dry continental air blowing in from Iran and Afghanistan, the heat wave is
forecast to subside later this week before monsoon rains bring relief to
parched areas of the east and south. (US$1 = 64 rupees)
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