SEVERE HEATWAVES
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization reported that Asia was warming at a particularly fast rate, with the effect of heatwaves in the area becoming more intense last year, reaching record highs for the area.
The WMO’s State of the Climate in Asia 2023 record found Asia was warming faster than the global average, with temperatures last year nearly 2 degrees Celsius above the 1961 to 1990 normal.
” Many countries in the region experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms,” said WMO chief Celeste Saulo, who described the report as” sobering.”
Ko Barrett, a deputy secretary-general of the WMO, said:” Intense heat is increasingly becoming the great silent killer.”
The report cited the rapid rise in important climate change indicators like floor temperature, glacial flee, and sea level rise, warning that they would have a significant impact on societies, economies, and ecosystems in the area.
However, Barrett said on Wednesday that “heat-related mortality is frequently under-reported and so the true level of premature deaths and economic costs are not exactly reflected in the data.”
As a severe heat forced officials to close schools throughout Bangladesh, thousands gathered in Dhaka to pray for rain.
According to Bangladesh’s weather bureau, the capital’s average maximum temperatures over the past year have been 4 to 5 levels Fahrenheit higher than the 30-year ordinary for the same time.
” Our prophet’s history is praying for rains. We asked God’s blessings for rain and repented for our sins, according to Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an Islamist priest who led a day worship support for 1, 000 people in central Dhaka.
” Living has become awful due to lack of floods”, he told AFP. ” Poor people are suffering tremendously”.
Similar worship services were held in various parts of Bangladesh, authorities said.