Vietnam is burning with intense heat
Last Updated on May 6, 2024 2:53 am
The entire South-East Asia is burning with fierce flames. Temperatures have been rising in recent weeks. Extreme heat across Asia has made life difficult from India to the Philippines.
Heat stroke deaths are also increasing. Schools and colleges have been closed in the country along with health warnings. Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia, has also been hit by extreme temperatures.
According to official data, more than 100 areas across Vietnam broke temperature records in April. The country is scorching with 44 degree temperature.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change will create more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves. Vietnam saw three waves of high temperatures in April, according to data released Friday by the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.
The mercury topped 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit) in the two cities earlier this week. This is slightly lower than the highest temperature recorded in Vietnam – which was 44.2 degrees Celsius on May 7 last year. In all, 102 meteorological stations saw record temperatures in April, as northern and central Vietnam were hit by a heat wave, with average temperatures 2 to 4 C higher than the same period last year. Seven stations recorded temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
The most dramatic sign of Vietnam’s extreme weather came in the southern province of Dong Nai, where tens of thousands of fish died in a reservoir in the scorching heat. Images show locals walking and rowing boats through the 300-hectare Song Mae reservoir, with dead fish barely visible below the water.
Water shortages caused by heat waves and poor management are blamed for the mass deaths. The Vietnam Meteorological Agency predicts more hot weather in May.
The temperature is expected to be 1.5 to 2.5 degrees higher than the previous year. Although April and May are usually the hottest time of year in Southeast Asia. Experts say the effects of El Niño are making this year’s heat particularly intense.
Myanmar also broke the April heat record. At least 30 people have died of heat stroke in Thailand since the start of the year, and high temperatures were partly blamed for a deadly explosion at a Cambodian ammunition dump. India’s megacity Kolkata has seen its hottest day since 1954. The day the temperature rose to 43 degrees Celsius. Even hilly Nepal has been hit hard by the temperature.