Since April 2024, several Southeast Asian countries have experienced recording breaking temperatures, which have left several people dead. Temperatures reached as high as in Iba, in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. In some countries the high heat created excessive energy demand. Outdoor activities were discouraged in Laos, and some schools in the Philippines were closed. In Myanmar, the heatwave exacerbated the crisis caused by the ongoing civil war.

By country

Indonesia

The warmer weather had caused an increase of dengue fever infections in the country. By the week of 8 April, there were 475 deaths from dengue infections compared to 170 deaths in the same period in 2023. In the same time span, there were 62,001 infections, as compared to 22,551 in the same period in 2023. This triggered the Ministry of Health to issue a warning to tourists visiting

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, requesting them to be vaccinated.

Laos

Laos reached a new all-time record in

Luang Prabang Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...

, where a temperature of 42.7°C (109°F) was recorded on 16 April 2024. The weather bureau warned against outdoor activities, with most areas in the countries forecasted to reach to from 25 April to 28 April.

Malaysia

As of 4 April, level 2 heatwaves had been declared in

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...

and

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

, while level 1 heatwaves were declared in

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

, Kedah,

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

, Perlis,

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

, and

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...

. Drought conditions were affecting 58,080 families in Sabah and 20,000 were elsewhere. As of 14 April, there have been 45 heat-related illness cases reported: 33 cases of heat exhaustion, 11 cases of heatstroke, and one case of heat cramp.

Myanmar

Since the start of April 2024, a

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

charity has treated at least 100 people for heat-related injuries. Temperatures hit in Chauk Township in

Mandalay Region Mandalay Region ( my, မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Mandalay Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division of Myanmar. It is located in the center of the country, bordering ...

, in

Nyaung-U Nyaung-U ( my, ညောင်ဦးမြို့) is the administrative town of Nyaung-U Township of Nyaung-U District in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar. It lies on the eastern bank of Ayeyarwaddy River. It is just 4 kilometers away ...

, and in Myingyan, and Minbu and Sinphyukyun in

Magway Region Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, ...

. In

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...

, civilians who have been displaced by the ongoing civil war were doubly impacted, with Mone Hla villagers in

Khin-U Township Khin-U Township is a township in Shwebo District in the Sagaing Division of Burma.

reporting health problems and water shortages since their homes were torched by

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

soldiers A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

on 28 March. The rolling power blackout left civilians unable to use electric appliances to cool themselves, with people resorting under the shades of trees in parks in the afternoon. According to

Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia. The service, which provides editoriall ...

, through funeral services and health officials in some of the country's hottest cities, at least 1,473 people died in Myanmar from heat-related causes in April alone.

Philippines

As of 18 April, authorities had logged 34 heat-related illnesses. The

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. The result is als ...

in several areas rose to levels of to . On April 28, a heat index of was recorded in Iba,

Zambales Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales ( fil, Lalawigan ng Zambales; ilo, Probinsia ti Zambales; Pangasinan: ''Luyag/Probinsia na Zambales''; xsb, Probinsya nin Zambales), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon re ...

, the highest in the country so far in 2024. Due to El Niño season in the Philippines, forecasters predicted that dangerous heat indices in at least 32 areas across the country would continue until the middle of May. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines advised the risk of several localized brownouts, with five power grids in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

and

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao ...

experiencing outages due to failure to meet demand. The

Department of Labor and Employment The Department of Labor and Employment ( fil, Kagawaran ng Paggawa at Empleyo}, commonly abbreviated as DOLE) is one of the executive departments of the Philippine government mandated to formulate policies, implement programs and services, an ...

recommended that employers allow their workers to

work from home Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, war ...

, while in-person attendance at public schools was suspended on 29 and 30 April, favoring long-distance learning setups as classrooms in public schools are often crowded and poorly ventilated. Resorts became fully booked and several shopping malls saw large crowds of people who sought to cool themselves amid the heat. On 7 May, the

PAGASA Pagasa may refer to: * ''Pagasa'' (genus), an insect genus in the family Nabidae *PAGASA, an acronym for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration *"May Pagasa", a pen-name of José Rizal *Pagasa, alternate s ...

declared that worst of the record-high temperatures was over, expecting thunderstorms to hit the country by the second half of May, and for

La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by an ...

to prevail by June, allowing Angat Dam, which supplies water to

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

and nearby provinces, to slowly recover.

Thailand

As of 28 April, there have been 30 heat-related deaths, as compared to 37 deaths in the whole of 2023. The temperature has thus far caused a record demand of electricity as people seek to cool themselves. Water levels at

Lam Takhong Dam The Lam Takhong Dam ( th, เขื่อนลำตะคอง, , ) is an embankment dam on the Lam Takhong River between Pak Chong District and Sikhio District in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. The dam was originally constructed in 19 ...

and Lam Mun river in

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat of ...

dropped sharply as drought and extreme heat caused the main water sources to run dry, sparking fears of water shortage. Inspections at chemical warehouses were stepped after a series of fires and fears of the stored chemicals being heat sensitive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southeast Asia heat wave, 2024 2024 heat waves 2024 in Laos 2024 in Myanmar 2024 in the Philippines 2024 in Thailand Heat waves in Asia