There\u2019s no fresh water in the slums of Delhi\u2019s Chanakyapuri neighborhood. It\u2019s 49.9 degrees Celsius, or 121 Fahrenheit \u2013 the hottest temperature on record. <\/p>\n
The sun belts off the tin roofs of the shanties. Desperate people wait for drinking water to be delivered. <\/p>\n
When it arrives, there\u2019s chaos. <\/p>\n
Dozens of people run to the truck, some even climbing on top of it to throw pipes in, pushing in to get their containers filled with water. It\u2019s first come first served, and many people miss out. <\/p>\n
Mother-of-six Poonam Shah is one of those people. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 10 people in my family \u2013 six kids, me and my husband, my in-laws, relatives come over sometimes \u2013 can we all bathe in one bucket of water?\u201d she asks. <\/p>\n
Today her family may not even have one bucket. Poonam was working her street food stall when the water truck arrived. She tried to run back for it \u2013 but it was too late, the water had run out. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are we supposed to do? There\u2019s no water. I work in a shop, there\u2019s no water there. But forget about the shop, we don\u2019t have water for our kids.\u201d <\/p>\n
She\u2019ll now look to buy water \u2013 it\u2019ll cost up to half of the $3 she usually earns in a day selling samosas and other snacks. <\/p>\n
As record heat grips northern India, the Delhi government has been forced to ration these free water deliveries. Previously, Poonam\u2019s neighborhood received two to three tanker deliveries per day. Now it\u2019s just the one. <\/p>\n
Temperatures in Delhi have been hovering above 40 degrees Celsius over the last week and on Tuesday they hit an all-time high of 49.9 degrees Celsius in one area of the capital, according to the Indian Meteorological Department. <\/p>\n
At least one death has been reported in the city so far, and dozens more across the country. <\/p>\n
At Ram Manohar Lohiya (RML) hospital in Delhi, a heatstroke unit with cold immersion tanks is treating more and more patients suffering extreme heatstroke, exhaustion and dehydration. <\/p>\n
The hospital\u2019s ice baths and air conditioning can help a handful of the millions of people who have no choice but to brave the Delhi heat to earn a living, but only if they get to hospital quickly. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf people get that rapid cooling, they stabilize, they survive. But if they get to the hospital late and the intervention is late, the mortality rate is so high. We\u2019re unable to save them if they come to us late.\u201d <\/p>\n
The patient who died in Delhi had been admitted to RML hospital. He was a 40-year-old migrant laborer, and like many working outdoors in the harsh sun, he succumbed to the heat. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was working in a factory\u2026 he was working in an area where there was no cooling, a very small congested area with a tin shed so there were multiple workers inside,\u201d Dr Shukla said, adding that it was too late by the time he arrived at the hospital. <\/p>\n
The man\u2019s name has not been released, for privacy reasons. <\/p>\n
Most of the hospital\u2019s heatstroke patients are from poorer communities, where working people have no choice but to spend long stretches out in the summer sun. <\/p>\n
Kali Prasad sells water and lemon juice outside the India Gate. Each day he pushes his water cart to the famed spot, from his home some eight kilometers (five miles) away. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe heat has risen drastically over the last five to 10 days, it\u2019s very hot, people aren\u2019t even coming here because of it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He says he has no choice but to stand all day under the scorching sun, as there is no one else to provide for his wife, children and parents. <\/p>\n
In recent years, the summer heat has come earlier, temperatures have risen higher and higher, and heatwaves have lengthened. <\/p>\n
Northwest and central India have been experiencing maximum temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius with some towns even crossing the 50-degree mark, according to the Indian Meteorological Department. <\/p>\n
The trend is \u201ca clear manifestation of the escalating impacts of climate change,\u201d says Farwa Aamer, the director of South Asia initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis alarming spike in temperatures underscores the urgent need for robust adaptation strategies and proactive measures in India and the region to protect lives and livelihoods, especially among vulnerable populations, from the devastating health effects of such intense heat,\u201d said Aamer, who researches climate vulnerabilities in South Asia. <\/p>\n
For many in Delhi, the climate crisis has already made life during summer unbearable. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to deal so we deal, we are poor people so we have to die, we have to work no matter how hot it is,\u201d Kali Prasad said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have any other option.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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There\u2019s no fresh water in the slums of Delhi\u2019s Chanakyapuri neighborhood. It\u2019s 49.9 degrees Celsius, or 121 Fahrenheit \u2013 the hottest temperature on record. The sun belts off the tin roofs of the shanties. Desperate people wait for drinking water to be delivered. When it arrives, there\u2019s chaos. Dozens of people run to the truck, some even <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}