Safdarjung, Delhi‘s main weather station, began recording temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius or higher every day on May 13. This is the longest period of extreme heat in the capital’s history—39 days and counting—in the previous 74 years of records. With day and nighttime highs among the highest ever recorded and up to seven days with temperatures above 45 degrees, it’s also the worst heat wave in recent history.
According to data released on Wednesday by the non-profit organization Centre For Holistic Development (CHD), as many as 192 homeless individuals in Delhi perished as a result of a heatwave that occurred between June 11 and June 19. According to the research, homeless people made up 80% of the unidentified bodies.
For the past few months, there have been extreme heatwaves in Delhi and other northern regions of India. Heat stroke victims have been caused by the intense heat, so the Center has advised hospitals to establish dedicated units to care for these patients.
In the meantime, almost 40,000 suspected cases of heatstroke were reported between March 1 and June 19 of this year, according to sources from the Union health ministry, and 114 deaths were attributed to the heatwave that affected a huge portion of the nation.
The highest recorded death tolls were from Odisha (13), Rajasthan (16), Bihar (17), and Uttar Pradesh (37). According to PTI, this information was gathered as part of the National Center for Disease Control’s (NCDC) National Heat-Related Illness and Death Surveillance.
