IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. India, Thailand, Bangladesh… Asia crushed by an endless extreme heat wave

Part of Asia is being crushed by a brutal heat wave, which has disrupted the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people for a month. These extreme heat conditions have affected South and Southeast Asia since the beginning of April. The months preceding the monsoon, or rainy season in the region, are generally warm, but temperatures in 2024 are well above average. “Asia is warming faster than the global average”also alerted the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a report published on April 23 and based on 2023.

40°C was largely exceeded in 26 provinces of Thailand (a third of the country) in April, according to the news agency Bloomberg. This month is considered the hottest and driest in the region, but this year, the heatwave is exacerbated by the El Niño climatic phenomenon. In Bangkok, the temperature felt (calculated according to an index taking into account wind or humidity in addition to temperature) for example, exceeded 52°C on April 25.

This heat wave led to record electricity consumption, intensified by the use of fans or air conditioning. Since the start of the year, extreme temperatures have already killed thirty people, according to data published in mid-April by the Thai Ministry of Health. This is already almost as much as for the whole of 2023 (37 heat deaths recorded).

In search of water, several elephants ventured out of the jungle onto a golf course in the Thai capital, as shown in the following photo, taken on March 22.

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• Source of information and images “francetvinfo“