Jacobabad, Pakistan Hits 51C (123.8F); Most Of City's Trees Cut For Firewood; Water Supply Spotty

[hatrack]

Muhammad Akbar, 40, sells dried chickpeas on a wheelbarrow in Jacobabad, and has suffered heatstroke three times in his life. But now, he says, the heat is getting worse. “In those days there were many trees in the whole city and there was no shortage of water and we had other facilities so we could easily beat the heat. But now there are no trees or other facilities including water, due to which the heat is becoming unbearable. I’m scared that this heat will take our lives in the coming years.”

As Pakistan and India sweltered during the recent heatwave, the city of Jacobabad, where Akbar lives, hit a record-breaking 51C. Normally the summer heat starts from the last week of May, but this year, for the first time according to the people here, the heat began in March. Now it will continue till August.

According to the ecologist Nasir Ali Panhwar, author of several books on the environment, the city is particularly badly affected by global heating. This is partly because the city is located in a place where the winter sun comes directly and warms more. Others point out that most of the trees that used to shade the city and the surrounding fields have been cut down and sold, or burned in cooking stoves.

Sardar Sarfaraz, a chief meteorologist of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told the media that the temperature had already reached 49C in April, a record. He pointed out that Jacobabad “is one of the hottest places in the world” and warned that if the heat began to arrive so early, it was a matter of serious concern.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/25/it-seems-this-heat-will-take-our-lives-pakistan-city-fearful-jacobabad-after-hitting-51c

[appalachiablue]

1. K/R Thank for this

[hunter]

2. How many people with access to affordable electricity or bottled gas bother with wood stoves?

Supplying safe water seems to be remarkably difficult in some places, even in places with abundant water resources. There are cities in the U.S.A. that have failed at that.

This is a tragedy of the commons on three different levels.

On a global scale we can't quit fossil fuels. Climate change hits cities like Jacobabab especially hard.

On a regional scale people are unable to keep the Indus River clean and effectively manage urban water systems.

On the local scale neighborhoods can't protect their own trees.