Ahmedabad has become the first city in South Asia to come up with a Heat Action Plan (HAP), informing citizens about extreme climates in the near future and the necessary steps to tackle it.
Temperatures in the city during summers in Gujarat have risen upto as high as 47 degrees resulting in deaths due to intense heat wave conditions and strokes.
This Heat Action Plan, introduced last week by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), aims to provide a framework for the implementation, coordination, and evaluation of extreme heat response activities in the city to reduce the negative health impacts of extreme heat. "The plan's primary objective is to alert population, most at risk of heat-related illness when extreme heat conditions either exist or are imminent, and to take appropriate precautions," Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), medical officer, Dr S P Kulkarni said.
The civic body has tied up with Georgia Institute of Technology in United States of America (USA), Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) and Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), a US-based international advocacy group, for this project.
"While the Indian Meteorological Department provides weather forecast for two days, Georgia Institute of Technology has agreed to forecast weather for seven days, and if possible, 15 days," Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) director Prof Dileep Mavalankar said.
The Indian Meteorological Department defines heat wave as an increase of 5 degrees Celsius above the normal maximum temperature.
An increase of 7 degrees Celsius on the normal maximum constitutes a severe heat wave. The city had witnessed severe heat wave in 2010 with temperatures touching 47 degree Celsius and close to 100 deaths being reported. The average temperature in the May, which is hottest in the city, hovers over 42 Dgrees.
Mavalankar said that there will be warning when the mercury touches 42-43 degrees Celsius. A yellow warning will be issued signifying a 'Hot Day'. When the temperature rises to 44-45 degrees Celsius, an orange warning symbolising 'Heat Alert Day' will be issued. When the temperature exceeds 45 degrees Celsius, a red warning, meaning 'Extreme Heat Alert Day', will be issued. He said once warnings are issued, civic body will swing into action informing hospitals, schools, media, traffic police personnel and keeping ambulances on standby for emergencies. Special wards with good cooling conditions have been created for patients admitted with heat strokes or other heat complications in hospitals, Dr Kulkarni said.
