A devastating week-long heat wave in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi killed 1,233 people, an official said.
Pakistani Provincial Disaster Management Authority director of operations Nazar Mohammed Bozdar said that about 65,000 people had been treated for heatstroke by doctors at all of Karachi’s hospitals since June 20, when the heat wave struck Sindh Province, where Karachi is the provincial capital.
He told reporters that 1,923 people with heat-related ailments were still being treated.
Photo: AFP
“The government quickly responded by making arrangements for the treatment of heatstroke patients and the situation has improved now,” Bozdar said.
Pakistan’s deadliest heat wave on record coincided with the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, during which Pakistan’s Muslim majority observes a dawn-to-dusk fast.
The temperatures in Karachi came down to 34oC after reaching 45oC a week ago amid chronic power outages, which forced many residents to spend nights outdoors.
The heat wave shocked many Pakistanis just weeks after soaring temperatures caused nearly 2,200 deaths in neighboring India.
Since then, it has raised fears that South Asia could be seeing some of the devastating effects of climate change.
On Saturday, TV footage showed a charity burying several unidentified bodies of people who died earlier this week because of the heatstroke.
Pakistani television stations reported that several unidentified bodies were buried by the Edhi Foundation charity because local morgues were overflowing.
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