Socio-Economic Impacts of Heat Wave in Sindh

The severity and persistence of Karachi heat wave in June 2015 was a rare occurrence for the dwellers of this metropolitan hosting more than 200 people of diverse socio-economic status. The causes were combination of the environmental, meteorological and demographic phenomena. Most of the causalities did not occur due to high temperatures rather extended exposure to sun, nonventilated housing, dehydration due to fasting, prolonged power outages and discontinuity of water supplies were responsible for such elevated death toll. Majority of victims were poor who had to earn their day to day livelihoods to feed their families despite the looming threat of heat strokes and health warnings. There was hardly any causality in posh areas of the metropolitan. The zonation of the death toll clearly indicates the direct relationship with the socio-economic conditions which could be a priority area to work on the heat waves risk reduction.