Asia hit hardest by climate, weather disasters in 2023: UN
According to the report, in India, severe heatwaves in April and June resulted in about 110 reported fatalities due to heatstroke.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Friday conducted a meeting with 17 heat wave-prone states to review their preparedness, particularly in view of the recent incidents of thunderstorm and lightning.
The meeting was conducted through video conference by NDMA member R. K. Jain. He asked the states to run extensive public awareness campaigns in local languages to educate people about the simple ways of mitigating the impact of heat waves and lightning.
He also told state governments to work on developing thresholds at local levels and ensure wider dissemination of early warnings.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD), besides its regular five-day forecasts, now comes out with a special heat bulletins at 7.30 a.m. to help people plan their day accordingly.
The NDMA review covered preparedness of the states in terms of having heat action plans up to the district level, providing shelters, drinking water, rescheduling work timings to avoid peak heat impact for labourers and medical treatment.
The NDMA underlined the importance of training all stakeholders to build local capacities and ensure better response in an emergency. The Authority asked the states to share reports on the activities carried out by them so that best practices followed by one state can be suitably adapted by others.
The NDMA, under the Union Home Ministry, has been running an all-out awareness campaign on social media on the do’s and don’ts of heat wave, thunderstorms and lightning. The NDMA’s “Beat The Heat India” campaign is being widely used and publicised by various other stakeholders.
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