A severe

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

with temperatures as high as struck southern

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in June 2015. It caused the deaths of about 2,000 people from

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

and

heat stroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, ...

, mostly in

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

province and its capital city,

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. The heat wave also claimed the lives of zoo animals and countless agricultural livestock. The event followed a separate heat wave in neighboring India that killed 2,500 people in May 2015.

Recorded temperatures

Extreme temperatures started to grip Pakistan's southern areas on 18 June 2015, and peaked on 20 June: Karachi recorded its highest temperatures since 1979. By 24 June 2015, the temperature and death toll began to abate; the maximum temperature in Karachi was , and officials reported 58 deaths compared to 300 the previous day.

Contributory factors

Asif Shuja, the former director general of the

Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency ( ur, , abbreviated as Pak-EPA), is an executive agency of the Government of Pakistan managed by the Ministry of Climate Change. The agency is charged with protecting human health and the environment ...

, claimed the heat wave was a symptom of

global climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

aggravated Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself. ...

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, expansion of

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

superhighways, and rapid

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...

. He maintained that "there has been a rise in the Earth's average temperature from to over the last 100 years, due to which we are experiencing such extreme weather conditions both in summers and winters." Shuja went on to say that the lack of sophisticated weather prediction technology in Pakistan contributed to the casualties of the heat wave. Moreover, widespread failures of the

electrical grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

left many locations without working air-conditioners, fans, or water pumps, adding further to the death toll. Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

tasked a committee comprising

Abdul Qadir Baloch Abdul Qadir Baloch (; born 9 April 1945) is a Pakistani politician and retired army general who served as Minister for States and Frontier Regions in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017 and in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to May 20 ...

, a retired General of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

and Minister for States and Frontier Regions, together with State Minister for Health Sciences Regulation and Coordination

Saira Afzal Tarar Saira Afzal Tarar (; born 7 June 1966) is a Pakistani politician who served as Minister for National Health Services Regulation and Coordination, in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018. She served as the Minister of State for Nat ...

. The two Ministers visited Karachi's

Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (J.P.M.C., also known as ''Jinnah Hospital, Karachi'') is located at ''Rafiqui Shaheed Road'' in Karachi Cantonment area of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre In 2015, approximately ...

in the wake of deaths due to the severe heat wave. Speaking to the media during their visit, Baloch said that the K-Electric was being investigated for

load shedding Demand response is a change in the power consumption of an electric utility customer to better match the demand for power with the supply. Until the 21st century decrease in the cost of pumped storage and batteries electric energy could not be ...

. Baloch held the

K-Electric Electric (KE) ( ur, ) (formerly known as Karachi Electric Supply Company / Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Limited) is a Pakistani investor-owned utility company based in Karachi. K-Electric is a privately owned and vertically-integrated e ...

, KW&SB and

Sindh government The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions un ...

responsible for the increase in heat wave mortality in Karachi. The power regulator

NEPRA The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority ( ur, , abbreviated as NEPRA) is responsible for regulating the electricity supply in Pakistan. It is also responsible for issuing licences for generation, transmission and distribution of electric ...

reported that K-Electric was not generating electricity according to its generation capacity. The heat wave coincided with the month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

, when

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s observe fasting and no drinking from dawn till dark. This increased the risks of dehydration and heat stroke.

Emergency measures

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared a state of emergency, activated military relief efforts, and warned electric supply companies that he would not tolerate power outages during Ramadan. The Sindh government declared an emergency for all government hospitals in the province, and the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (whic ...

postponed its exams for at least one month. An influential Muslim cleric in Pakistan decreed a

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

that if "a religious and qualified doctor" advises (for safety of life), Muslims are allowed to skip or break their Ramadan daytime fast, and then to complete those days of fasting when Ramadan and the emergency have passed. At the peak of the June 2015 heat wave, the number of corpses exceeded local capacities for storage or burial, as the emergency efforts proved insufficient to prevent enormous loss of life.

References

{{Portal bar, Pakistan, , Weather 2015 disasters in Pakistan 2015 heat waves Heat waves in Pakistan History of Karachi (1947–present)

Recorded temperatures

Contributory factors

Emergency measures

See also

References