According to the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, World Weather Attribution and Climate Central, the evidence puts experts on alert for 2024, as extreme heat waves have already been so far experienced in Asia.
Currently, different nations including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia and the Philippines are experiencing periods of high temperatures, and just Myanmar recorded an extreme temperature of 48.2°C on April 28, the highest ever recorded in the country.
In Bangladesh, on the other hand, extreme heat affects 57 out of 64 districts, representing more than 120 million people; and in Nepal, the city of Nepalgunj suffers weeks of temperatures above 40°C.
The international report, which is released on the eve of the June 2 observance of Heat Action Day, draws attention to the threat of extreme temperatures and what can be done to mitigate it.
“Extreme heat is known to have killed tens of thousands of people in the past 12 months, but the real number is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands or even millions,” the text points out.
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