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Pakistan Says More Than 600 Have Died in Heat Wave Death Toll in Pakistan Heat Wave Tops 650, Officials Say
(35 minutes later)
KARACHI, Pakistan — The death toll from a three-day heat wave in southern Sindh province has reached 622, a provincial health official said on Tuesday, adding that he expected the numbers to climb. The death toll from a three-day heat wave in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, rose to over 650 people on Tuesday, morgue officials said, as overwhelmed hospitals declared a state of emergency and the provincial authorities closed schools and some offices.
The official, Saaed Mangnejo, said most of the deaths were reported in the province’s largest city, Karachi. Temperatures have risen as high as 112 degrees Fahrenheit, or 45 Celsius, in Karachi, a city of 20 million people and the capital of Sindh Province. The impact of the devastating heat wave has been exacerbated by chronic electricity shortages and the annual Ramadan fast, when Muslims abstain from eating or drinking during daylight hours.
Temperatures reaching 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) began in Karachi over the weekend. Power failures lasting for hours, typical in Pakistan, also occurred in the city, leaving fans and air-conditioners inoperable. The blistering heat descended during the month of Ramadan, when most Muslims abstain from food — and some from water — during daylight hours. Doctors at Karachi’s largest hospital, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, said they had treated over 3,000 patients in recent days. The city’s main morgue, which is run by the Edhi Foundation, a charity, has received over 400 corpses and says it is at capacity.
The power failures also affected the sporadic water supply in the city, where those who can afford it rely on home deliveries of water tanker trucks filled with water. The unusually high temperatures in a crowded, chaotic port city that is normally cooled by sea breezes have affected manual laborers and street vendors the most, many of whom work through the day without drinking any water.
Most of the dead are older Pakistanis, said Seemi Jamali, a doctor an the spokeswoman for Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center, a hospital in Karachi. Thousands are being treated for heat-related ailments, including fever and dehydration and stomach-related illnesses, she said. Mortuaries are running out of space. Local television stations showed bodies stacked inside cold storage rooms at morgues. Ice is in short supply and being sold at a premium. On Tuesday evening, Shamim ur-Rehman, 34, a watchman at a building site, prepared a tray of food and waited for the call to prayer so he could break his fast.
Many people arrive at the hospital staring blankly or unconscious. Some faint while others lie on public benches and crowd corridors in wheelchairs and stretchers. Panicked families have fought with hospital staff members to admit their loved ones. “My job is 24 hours,” he said as he sat on a cot opposite the building. “It’s so hot. There is no fan, there is nothing. I can’t sleep at night or during the day.”
“We’re dying and we’re being told to wait,” said Moazzam Ali, as two women comforted his badly dehydrated mother, who was waiting for medical care. Doctors say many patients arrive at the hospital suffering from severe dehydration. The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force, set up emergency treatment centers in the streets, and Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the province’s chief minister, directed schools, colleges and government offices to close immediately.
Qaim Ali Shah, the province’s chief minister, ordered schools and public offices closed Tuesday until the heat wave ended. He faulted the Pakistani federal government for the deaths, saying it did not respond to his appeals to fix the power grid. Abid Sher Ali, a junior minister for water and power for the federal government, said it was the Karachi government’s fault for the high number of deaths. He said it could not manage its own affairs. The electricity grid comes under particular strain just before dusk, when Muslims break their fast and a large number of cooking appliances are used. Television coverage showed some residents leaving their cramped, overheated homes to seek relief in the streets.
A meteorologist, Abdur Rauf, called the heat wave the worst in at least a decade in Pakistan. He said he expected monsoon in the coming days were likely to bring relief to the area. The shocking death toll led to a round of political recrimination focused on the federal government, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which has long promised to bring the country’s energy crisis under control.
The chief minister, Mr. Shah, said the federal government was responsible for the contract with K-Electric, a company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that runs Karachi’s electricity supply.
But in the capital, Islamabad, the minister for water and power, Khawaja Asif, said he had no direct control over K-Electric, and other government leaders blamed the provincial government for failing to manage its own affairs.
Opposition leaders said they held Mr. Sharif responsible for the deaths, and declared Friday a day of mourning.
Meteorologists say the hot spell will probably continue through the week, although there may be some rainfall in Karachi and other cities in Sindh Province on Tuesday night.