Governments across region grappling for response as temperatures soar to unseasonable highs

Governments across region grappling for response as temperatures soar to unseasonable highs

Thousands of schools in the Philippines have stopped in-person classes due to unbearable heat. In Indonesia, prolonged dry weather has caused rice prices to soar. In Thailand’s waters, temperatures are so high that scientists fear coral could be destroyed.

A “historic heatwave” is being experienced across south-east Asia, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian. In updates posted on X, he said heat that was unprecedented for early April had been recorded at monitoring stations across the region this week, including in Minbu, in central Myanmar, where 44C was recorded – the first time in south-east Asia’s climatic history that such high temperatures had been reached so early in the month. In Hat Yai, in Thailand’s far south, 40.2 C was reached, an all-time record, while Yên Châu in north-west Vietnam hit 40.6C, unprecedented for this time of year.

The latest intense weather follows warnings last month by the World Meteorological Organization that the region had also been “gripped by severe heat conditions” in February when temperatures frequently soared into the high-30s – well above the seasonal average. It attributed the scorching weather to human-induced climate change, as well as the El Niño event, which brings hotter, drier conditions to the region.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    8 months ago

    increasing temperatures, drought conditions, super-storms… all just the norm now. More and more all outdated or stressed energy infrastructure will be stretched to its limit to keep indoor spaces habitable, with diminishing world-wide disaster recovery efforts because there’s a disaster at home that needs fixing. Efforts to reverse the damage (that we’re still accelerating), will be a massive project, taking the better part of a century to have any tangible effects. All because when scientists first reported this man-made disaster to executives within the oil & gas industry in 1896, they decided that short-term profit was more important. And then when more scientists reported further that this man-made disaster was real and accelerating in 1938, they said again “we’ll take our short term profits.” And then when scientists and politicians and world leaders all reported that this man-made disaster was accelerating and destroying vital links within the food chain today, they again said they’d prefer their short term profits, and really, it’s not their fault, and then they paid lobbyists to bribe politicians so that they could continue to operate without any meaningful changes to their money-printing death to all machine.

    I know the phrase is; “Eat the Rich,” but what it should be is “Eat the executives that have continued to profiteer off of the destruction of our planet and species.”

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The latest intense weather follows warnings last month by the World Meteorological Organization that the region had also been “gripped by severe heat conditions” in February when temperatures frequently soared into the high-30s – well above the seasonal average.

    “The level of heat the globe has experienced over the last 12 months, both on the land and in the ocean has surprised science,” said Prof Benjamin Horton, the director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

    We have a ratio of one to 60-70 students in a classroom that does not have proper ventilation,” said Ruby Bernardo, the president of the teaching union the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in the National Capital Region.

    “Even if we made a snap choice today to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions we’re going to have to deal with [high temperatures] for at least 50 years,” he said, adding that greater effort was needed to educate the public on how and where to stay cool.

    In Indonesia, which experienced prolonged dry weather last year, President Joko Widodo resorted to ordering the military to help farmers plant rice when rains finally arrived in December.

    Governments have issued health warnings advising people on how to avoid heatstroke, though many workers, especially those in sectors such as agriculture or construction, have little option but to endure the severe heat.

    The original article contains 996 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!