Extreme heat in India: Court calls for declaration of national emergency

HIBAPRESS-RABAT-Agencies

India is currently experiencing extreme temperatures for several days, well above 45°C in several large cities.

The current national record, 51°C, was recorded in 2016 in Phalodi, on the edge of the Thar Desert, in Rajasthan.

As a result, the Rajasthan Court of Appeal rules that India should declare future heat waves as “national calamities”, which would allow security services to be mobilized in the same way as during other natural disasters such as floods or cyclones.

The court in this northwestern Indian state ruled that authorities had failed to take appropriate measures to protect the population from the heat.

She also directed the state government to set up compensation funds for the relatives of those who died due to the high temperatures.

“Due to extreme temperatures in the form of a heat wave, hundreds of people lost their lives during the month,” the Court mentioned in an order issued last Thursday.

“We do not have a planet B on which we could settle… If we do not take strict measures now, we will forever lose the chance to see our children flourish,” the order reads.