Krishna says, “The more granular your data is, the more target your response can be.” Instead of general advice such as “more water drinks”, localized data can run specific functions: change hours of the market or factory, deploy cost-effective heat shelters, or install oral rebellion solutions station in high-foot areas. “If you know who is the weakest, you can work fast,” she says.
But as Delhi goes through another summer, against the background of growing Deaths related to heat And increasing climate stress, many of the relief measures already promised by the government – to keep 3,000 water cooler In public places, changing the time of construction work, and creating shelters during day-time time for external workers and homeless people-It is yet to be done.
This year, heat seems even more unbearable for Zubaida. “My blood pressure falls, I do a sharp headache,” she says. Constant and long -term power cuts in his neighborhood also means that there is very little relief at home. “We need proper shelter and some shadow to work.”
A part of the problem is that heat action plans are not legally binding, saying Tamanna Dalal, a senior research colleague of Sustainable Futures, New Delhi -based Sustainable Futures. She explains, “Summer waves are not recognized as state-specific disasters in most parts of India.” “Right now, only eight states have formally declared heat waves as disasters. This means that local authorities have not been bound to prioritize heat action until they receive directly rapid response guidelines during the heat wave from high levels.”
National government too Does not identify Heat waves as “notified” disasters, which means that they cannot trigger financial aid under the country’s disaster-management law.
As a result, whatever measures are taken are short term and reactive. Temporary measures such as the closure of schools ordered by the Education Department or the verbal rebellion solution by health departments are being repeated every year. But these measures do nothing to create structural flexibility for cities to make the heat condition deteriorate.
It is eventually about the construction of more heat-flexible cities that can adapt and reduce the heat together with other policy goals. Khosla explains as energy, water, employment generation and air quality.
Some funding routes already exist. “We found that 18 centrally sponsored schemes have direct relations with long -term solutions listed in HAP, such as piped water supply, rooftop solar, et seater,” Dalal says. But many local authorities do not know that these resources are available. recently Amendment For the National Disaster Mitigation Fund of India, it now helps states to take action related to heat but awareness is very less. India is still in the early stages of heat planning in the country, and large -scale capacity building is immediately needed to help the implementers see heat as a chronic threat in the heat -heating world.
“We are soon reaching the threshold of 1.5 ° C, which is going to be irreversible,” Dalal says, referring to the limited limit for global warming Set in Paris AgreementWhich is almost certain to break the world. “This will affect every aspect of our daily life. The next few years are important in implementing some long -term solutions, as they take years to apply and even longer to have an effect.”
