Slashdot Mirror
Heat Wave Kills More Than 1,100 In India
An anonymous reader sends word that a week-long heat wave in India has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people. Temperatures reached 47C (117F) on Monday and are expected to stay dangerously high throughout the week. The heat and extreme dryness are being accompanied by strong westerly winds. "About one-third of the country's 1.2 billion people have access to electricity, meaning millions are enduring the blistering heat without relief." The local power grid has been struggling under high demand from fans and air conditioning. In some states, citizens are being advised to stay indoors during the middle of the day, when the sun is at its peak. Many hope the upcoming monsoons will return temperatues to less dangerous levels.
i visited bangalore in 2006, to see a friend living there. he explained that when the trees were cut down in the cities (so that more housing could be built), temperatures soared by an additional 10 *centigrade*. so, the ambient temperature surrounding the cities would be 45 degrees, but in bangalore it would reach *fifty five* centigrade. the point of mentioning this is that it's a much more direct version of how man has an effect on his immediate environment. change the landscape, you change the weather, it's as simple as that. we can learn from that... or simply die. it's our choice.
Actually it's not, that's the problem. The humidity is around 30% during the day, which may not sound like a lot, but at 47C that's a heat index of over 55C! That's well into the extreme danger zone, you will get heat stroke extremely easy, even without being in the sun. And then of course the humidity will jump up during the night, so it may only be 30C outside, but the heat index is still in the 40s.
This weather is a very nasty combination of heat and humidity. You're basically looking at a sauna at times. Which is all well and good when you can leave the sauna, but even in the best of health the human body struggles to deal with these kinds of heat indexes over an extended period of time.
India developed and built nuclear weapons and is planning a Mars mission and a spaceplane. Where the political will exists, India is capable of making the same kinds of investments into technology that the US does.
India just lacks the political will to invest in providing their citizens with water and electricity or reducing urban heat island effects.
The US doesn't need to airlift them anything. The Indian government can provide for its citizens but refuses to do so.