Warming
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Temperatures close to 45° C, fires, increased pollution… The early heat wave that hit the country gives a glimpse of the intensity of future global warming in the region. With dramatic consequences for the poorest.
It is 2 p.m. in South New Delhi. The sun bangs like a hammer and the wind blows boiling air. Mohammed, weather-beaten and sweaty, carries two metal scaffolding poles on his shoulders, then places them in the truck. This 50-year-old worker works and sleeps on this construction site, and tries to ignore the heat wave that overwhelms him. “It’s getting hotter and hotter, it’s becoming a real problemloose this migrant, originally from the poor region of Bihar, a little stunned. But we must continue. We must continue to work to live. While waiting for the evening…” Like most workers on residential construction sites in New Delhi, Mohammed will then lie down in the middle of this residential concrete skeleton that he is helping to build. With the only comfort, a collective fan that brews barely warm air.
The Indian capital heats up too much, and especially too soon. The mercury reached 45°C on Thursday, more than 5°C above seasonal norms – a level that triggers the heat wave alert. And this climate of furnace, installed on the center and the north of India, as well as part of neighboring Pakistan, will continue at least until Monday evening. This landlocked region regularly experiences such high temperatures, but…