2015 déjà vu: Are Indian cities about to witness a repeat of deadly heatwaves?

New Delhi: While scientists warned of extreme climate conditions continuing in the year 2017, global megacities like Kolkata could face annual deadly heatwaves due to global warming.

Scientists say even if global warming is halted at the levels struck under the Paris deal, megacities like Kolkata may face extreme heat waves like the one that claimed over 2,000 lives in India in 2015.

The India Meteorological Department has predicted 'above normal' temperature across the country - at least up to June.

Nations supporting the 2015 Paris Agreement have pledged to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

 

However, extreme heat events are expected to occur ever more often as the two degree Celsius limit is approached, researchers said.

An analysis of 44 of the 101 most populous "megacities" showed that the number of cities experiencing heat stress doubled with 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, researchers said.

The trend would potentially expose more than 350 million additional people to heat stress by 2050, if population continues to grow as expected, researchers said.

"As the climate warms, the number and intensity of heat waves increases," said Tom Matthews, a climatologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.

"Research has shown this to be the case for the global warming experienced to date, and our research is the latest to show that we can expect even larger increases as the climate continues to warm," Matthews was quoted as saying by 'Health Day'.

Although global warming is halted at Paris goals, the megacities of Karachi in Pakistan and Kolkata in India could face annual conditions similar to the deadly heat waves that gripped those regions in 2015, researchers said.

During the 2015 heat waves in those areas, about 1,200 people died in Pakistan and more than 2,000 died in India.

These heat waves are particularly threatening to large cities containing lots of heat-absorbing asphalt and concrete, not to mention huge populations, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

The World Meteorological Organisation, in its annual State of Global Climate report, revealed that 2016 was the hottest year on record, setting a new high for the third year in a row. However, extreme and unusual trends have continued in 2017, pushing the planet into 'truly uncharted territory'.

(With PTI inputs)