Heat shelters are urgently needed in rural and urban areas

The worse-than-expected increase in global warming will mean ambient temperatures where it will be difficult to sustain any kind of outside activity, leading among other things, to loss of wages and economic distress. Extreme heat is dangerous to the health of humans and animals. It can cause potentially fatal conditions such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke, suddenly trigger serious events like heart attack and stroke and worsen existing medical conditions like kidney or lung disease. Extreme heat can affect anybody, regardless of age.

The homeless are the most vulnerable to extreme temperatures, especially heat. Access to water is a critical issue during summer for those living on the streets. They are prone to many health challenges including dehydration, diarrhoea, respiratory distress, coughing and fever due to the scorching temperatures.

Protection against the heat will have to become a priority response to the climate crisis. Already cities that have experienced unusually hot weather, have started to provide heat shelters to provide respite from the unbearable summer heat.

Saudi Arabia which has seen temperatures go up to 52 degrees C has installed giant umbrellas with cooling, misting fans at public places like mosques in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Here drinking water and medicines are provided for the people and for Haj pilgrims to reduce cases of heat exhaustion and sunstroke.

In Arizona where summer temperatures have gone up to 53 degrees C, the city of Glendale started a Heat Relief Network in 2005 providing heat shelters after a heat wave resulted in 30 homeless people dying. These shelters offer cooled indoor locations, bottled water, hats and places to rest.

The city of London too which has known some unusually hot days in recent years has earmarked some buildings with cool interiors where the public can take shelter from the heat, cool down, drink water and rest.

India, no stranger to hot summers is now seeing extremely hot cycles for longer periods. It has become crucial to provide public places where vulnerable people in rural and urban areas can take shelter from the debilitating summer heat because their own dwellings are not heat protected.

In a first in South Asia, the city administration of Ahmedabad, set up heat shelters after a heat wave in 2010 killed 4,462 people. These community shelters provide some first aid, cold water and a place to get away from the heat. Other towns and cities must provide similar cooling off places in slums and in affluent neighbourhoods where street vendors and passers-by can seek relief.

All construction sites must be required to provide heat shelters with cold water, fans and coolers where the workers can take refuge in the peak heat hours. For labour working outdoors, work timings should be shifted to early morning and pre-dusk to dusk with resting time during the peak midday heat. Indoor work can be done inside where ventilation and cooling facilities are available.

Simple first aid outlets should be set up near the heat shelters and also in inhabited areas of towns and villages. These can be manned by volunteers trained to identify symptoms caused by heat exhaustion and heat stroke and provide medicines. This will enable people to seek relief quickly for heat-related discomfort and will prevent the flooding of hospitals.

To cope with the rapid pace of a heating planet, we must introduce radical measures like rescheduling school and office timings, even shortening them, in summer.

Farmers are a particularly vulnerable group since their work is outdoors regardless of the season. They are automatically reverting to the traditional rhythm of working only in the early morning and evening hours. But to get away from the cruel midday heat, rural men and women need to have access to shelters where they can escape from their concrete homes. Gone are the cooler mud and thatch dwellings in the name of development. In agricultural areas, heat shelters will also be needed for farm animals for they too are extremely vulnerable to high heat. In China, extreme heat led to the death of 462 pigs at a pig farm and in another instance some 4,000 chickens perished in poultry units due to high temperatures.

Heat shelters near fields can be simple and effective. Enclosures with perforated mud walls and thatch roofs will allow cooling air flow. Earthen pots will provide cool drinking water. In the villages, temples, schools, community halls and other government buildings can serve as heat shelters during the peak heat period.

Most of all, we need to restore water bodies and increase the greenery that existed in rural areas. A mix of fast and slow growing trees, bushes and shrubs should be planted to provide both quick green cover and trees and groves for the longer term. There is much that can be done to build cooler dwellings cheaply. Consulting architects and traditional masons can yield inexpensive solutions to provide heat relief in homes and shelters. Vernacular architecture has a range of options, now abandoned that can make dwellings and public spaces cooler.

This article is authored by Suman Sahai, scientist and founder chairperson, research and advocacy organisation Gene Campaign, Uttarakhand.