An Indian court has urged the government to declare a national emergency in the face of the heat wave that India has been experiencing for several days, with temperatures well above 45°C. According to this jurisdiction, the heatwave caused “hundreds” of deaths.
The only Indian state of Bihar, in the northeast, announced Friday that at least 14 people had died in a single day, the day before, due to this heatwave.
In this context, the High Court of Rajasthan, in the northwest, considers that India should classify future periods of very high heat as “national calamities”, which would make it possible to mobilize the security services in the same way as for other natural disasters like floods and cyclones.
This court concluded that the authorities had failed to take appropriate measures to protect the population in the face of the current meteorological situation.
She further ordered the Rajasthan state government to set up compensation funds for the relatives of those who died due to the heatwave.
“Due to extreme temperatures (…), hundreds of people lost their lives during the month,” lamented the court in an order issued Thursday.
“We do not have a planet B on which we could settle (…). If we do not take strict measures now, we will forever lose the chance to see our children flourish,” it is written in this document.
It was in Rajasthan, in Phalodi, on the edge of the Thar desert, that the current Indian record, 51°C, was recorded in 2016.
“Climate change”
In New Delhi, a city of around 30 million inhabitants, where the temperature has increased this week, electricity consumption reached a peak on Wednesday due in particular to massive use of air conditioning.
The municipality also warned of a “very high probability of contracting heat-related illnesses” and of being the victim of a “heat stroke at all ages”, as well as a risk of shortage of water.
A peak of 52.9°C, a possible new national record, was recorded there that day, although authorities are wondering about a possible “sensor error”.
Already in 2022, the thermometer in the capital had risen to 49.2°C.
India is accustomed to intense summer heat, but years of scientific research has shown that climate change is making these episodes longer, more frequent and more intense.
The researchers emphasize that this human-induced climate change should be considered a warning.
The place of fuels
Heat waves constitute “the greatest threat to the well-being of India today”, explained to AFP Aarti Khosla, director of the Climate Trends research institute.
The extreme temperatures in the New Delhi region are, according to her, “proof that the question that arises today is that of survival”.
The world’s most populous country, with 1.45 billion people, is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet but has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2070, i.e. two decades after most Western industrialized nations.
For the moment, coal provides the majority of electricity production in India.
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi says fossil fuels remain paramount to meeting his country’s growing energy needs and lifting millions of people out of poverty.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
