India To Launch First Ever Regional Plans To Beat The Heat

New Delhi: India will launch the first ever comprehensive regional preparedness plan and early-warning system in South Asia later this month to protect vulnerable communities from heat wave intensified by climate change.

The new heat action plan in the Nagpur region of Maharashtra and the Bhubaneswar coastal region of Odisha expand on work initiated in Ahmedabad, and was developed after India suffered a devastating heat wave that killed more than 2,300 people in 2015.

The comprehensive plan helps reduce harm from heat wave by initiating an early warning system for residents, providing preparation and training to medical and community workers, opening cooling centers, building public awareness of heat-related health risks, and coordinating inter-agency emergency response efforts.

This could also be adopted by cities around the world burdened by sky-high temperatures and climate impacts.

"India is showing the world that, as we work together to fight climate change, we can take smart steps right now to shield millions of people from killer heat waves."

"These groundbreaking heat action plans also demonstrate that it's clearly feasible and cost-effective to create similar heat preparedness plans across Indian cities and states," said Anjali Jaiswal, the India Initiative Director at NRDC.

The Nagpur regional plan is the first regional approach to heat wave planning and coordinates five neighboring cities' plans. The Odisha regional plan will strengthen the integration of heat preparedness and a heat early warning system into its robust state-wide disaster management system.

"When heat waves hit, such plans help reduce their deadly impact by initiating an early warning system for residents, providing preparation and training to medical and community workers..."

"...opening cooling centers, building public awareness of heat-related health risks, and coordinating inter-agency emergency response efforts," an official statement said.