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Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Places getting too hot for human habitation

Back over in the daytime world of Mad Max scorchers, certain parts of the world will literally be too hot for human habitation by the end of the century. Naturally, the first place that comes to mind is the GCC. According to computer simulations by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Gulf region will be the world’s hottest region by 2100 as a result of climate change. However, scientists and economists do not foresee this being a total catastrophe there, considering the GCC’s wealth, small population, and low food requirements.

The real region causing concern is South Asia. “The areas likely to be worst affected in northern India, southern Pakistan and Bangladesh are home to 1.5 bn people,” said MIT professor Elfatih Eltahir, the study’s co-author. The study shows that about 2% of India’s population is sometimes exposed to extreme combinations of heat and humidity. This is projected to increase to 70% by 2100 if nothing is done to mitigate climate change. Heatwaves across South Asia in the summer of 2015 killed an estimated 3,500 people and similar events will become more frequent and intense, researchers said.

A number of Indian cities and politicians are warning of an imminent public health crisis, according to an in-depth feature in the New York Times by Somini Sangupta. “These cities are going to become unlivable unless urban governments put in systems of dealing with this phenomenon and make people aware,” said Sujata Saunik, who served as a senior official in the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. So far, the responses have been inadequate to address the issue. Think about that next time your complaining about our manageable Cairo heat.

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