Heatwave kills  800 in India

About 800 people have been recorded dead in India, following the move of a heatwave with temperatures close to 50 degree Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

On Monday, B.P. Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said India recorded its highest maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius – 117 degrees Fahrenheit at Angul in Odisha.

“This extreme, dry heat is being blown into India by westerly winds,” Yadav said.

As at Tuesday, the temperatures had mounted to 48 degrees Celsius with more deaths in the region.

According to BBC, most deaths have taken place in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where more than 750 people have died since last week.

Not less than 24 people have been confirmed dead in West Bengal and Orissa.

In, Andhra Pradesh, the worst-hit state, 551 people have died, with another 215 casualties in neighbouring Telangana state, where the highest temperatures have been recorded.

Heatwave conditions have been ongoing in the two worst-affected south Indian states for about a month, but majority of the deaths have happened in the past few days.

Of about 1.2 billion people in India, at least 500 million do not have access to electricity, making it difficult for them to get relief from air conditioning systems or other electrically powered cooling methods.

At the moment, Borno, one of the hottest states in Nigeria, has a temperature of 37 degree Celsius, about 11 degrees less than the situation in India.