Pakistan’s largest city cries for immediate interventions to minimise the impacts of intense heatwaves that have turned it into a virtual pressure cooker, causing loss of lives and livelihoods.
It was a broiling June afternoon when Furqan Ali, an employee of a private company in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, received the news about the death of his mother. She presumably died of heatstroke, although no autopsy was conducted to investigate the cause.
Already struggling to cope with the shock, Ali had to go through another ordeal: To arrange a grave for her deceased mother.
The city's already limited graveyard spaces were overburdened by a sudden spike in deaths due to frequent spells of heatwaves that hit the metropolis, mainly in June and July, leaving families rushing between graveyards in search of a space to bury their deceased.
Normally, a grave costs between Rs.20,000 (US$71.89) and Rs.40,000 (US$143) depending on locations. However, the cost shot up to between Rs.50,000 ($179) and Rs.100,000 ($359) as the graveyards received three times more bodies during those days. “I had to borrow money to arrange the grave, that too at a graveyard far away from my house as nearby burial sites had no space left,” said Ali.
Noor Wali, 60, had to bear the brunt of unrelenting heat in a different way. While toiling under midday scorching sun at an under construction building in Karachi's southern district, Wali became unconscious due to heatstroke. He was transported to the hospital, where he stayed for the next three days.
After being discharged from the hospital, he could not work for longer hours due to weakness and searing temperature in the city that soared above 40 degree Celsius (oC), with the high humidity making it feel as hot as 49 oC in June and July. He had no choice but to limit his working hours.
Like most of the labourers in the country, Wali earns Rs.1,200 (US$4.3) to Rs.1,500 (US$5.39) daily, quite insufficient to cope with an escalating cost of living crisis. The meagre income further dipped due to persistent spells of heatwaves.
The two instances are a reflection of larger climate change impacts affecting not only Karachi, once known for its moderate weather even during peak summers, but also other major cities of Pakistan.
Long- and short-term impacts
As global temperatures continue to rise, urban heatwaves have become increasingly frequent and intense, disrupting the daily lives of millions of city dwellers worldwide. Heatwaves, defined as prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, have far reaching impacts on the socioeconomic wellbeing of urban populations, with both immediate and long-term consequences.
"Heatwaves, in the short-term, can lead to physical health issues such as heatstroke, dehydration and exacerbation of chronic conditions like cardiovascular and respiratory diseases," said Imrana Tiwana, a Lahore based environmentalist.
The psychological toll of heatwaves, she added, was also significant, with many people experiencing increased levels of stress, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Enumerating the long-term impacts of consistent heatwave exposure, she said that the prolonged heat stress could deteriorate mental and physical health over time. "Urban dwellers, especially those without proper cooling solutions, may face chronic fatigue, diminished work capacity, and an overall decline in quality of life," she said, adding that rising healthcare costs and the economic strain of managing heat-related conditions could also erode household financial stability, especially for low-income families.
Spike in deaths new normal
Although heatwaves have upended life across urban Pakistan, Karachi is emerging as the prime example of how the phenomenon can turn cities into virtual pressure cookers. Soaring temperatures compounded by a weak healthcare system and limited infrastructure exacerbate the challenges faced by urban residents.
In Karachi, the maximum temperature of June has been increasing at 0.041oC per year or 0.41oC per decade. For July, it has been 0.051oC per year or 0.51oC per decade, which is a bit higher than that of June, according to official data provided by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). According to the PMD’s chief meteorologist Sardar Sarfraz, the average temperatures for June and July are 35.7oC and 33.6oC respectively. He said that while Pakistan's decadal increase in temperature was 0.18oC that of Karachi was 0.34oC. “Global temperature has risen by 1.2oC since pre-industrial era, 1850-1900 with a decadal increase of 0.2oC,” he said.
Searing heatwaves, likely to be intensified by climate change, have led to a gradual spike in deaths, particularly in June and July over the past decade. This year, at least 53 people were killed, while 2,999 – 2,392 in June alone – were brought to the hospital due to heatstroke during this period, according to the Health Department of Sindh. In contrast to the official numbers, mortuaries in the country's commercial capital received three times higher number of bodies in late May and early June this year when temperatures shot up to 53oC in parts of Sindh. Though the government avoided classifying many of these deaths as related to heatstroke, NGOs and medical professionals trace this sharp increase back to the extreme temperatures.
Faisal Edhi, the head of one of Pakistan's largest relief agencies, Edhi Foundation, said his organisation's morgues were flooded with bodies during the periods when heatwaves struck the metropolis. A majority of the deceased were presumed to be homeless or drug addicts. "Normally, we receive 30 to 40 bodies daily but during the spells of heatwaves, this figure remained between 100 and 150," Edhi said.
Between June 20 and 26, the week that turned out to be the worst in terms of heat wave related deaths, the foundation received around 500 bodies, mainly from the areas hit by power load-shedding.
Ramzan Chhipa, head of local welfare agency Chhipa Welfare Association, said that his organisation fully or partially arranged dozens of burials as the families could not afford the costs due to sudden spike in deaths.
In the absence of proper medical investigation, all deaths could not be attributed to heatwave. However, Edhi pointed out, a sudden spike in death during the spells of heatwaves could not simply be ignored. A trajectory of heat related casualties over the past few years gives credence to his contention. In June, 2015, an intense heatwave condition had claimed over 1,000 lives in Karachi alone, according to official statistics and local media.
Sharpening inequality, targeting vulnerable
A shrinking green cover, growing population, unchecked migration, and increasing constructions compounded by industrial and fuel emissions, and power outages have turned Karachi, home to over 20 million people, into an ‘inhabitable’ place.
Densely populated localities teeming with dingy, small houses and apartments, and limited access to electricity, have further exacerbated the situation, causing deaths, and other health issues during heatwave spells.
In addition, rising temperatures lead to more demand for electricity. This simply means more fossil fuel emissions, which would ultimately add to the environmental ravages already plaguing the South Asian country. Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries badly affected by climate change.
To make things worse, a steady increase in temperatures is adding to an already haunting economic and social disparity in the country.
Inflating power bills, which in most cases are higher than house rents, have made it impossible for lower and middle income bracket citizens to use air conditioners to cope with heat waves in recent years. “Until a few years ago, we could at least afford to use air conditioners for some hours in the afternoon and night but it has simply gone out of limit now,” Tanveer Ahmad, who runs a small grocery shop in Qayyumabad, a low-end neighborhood in the city's southern district, said referring to high electricity bills. Sifat Siddiqui, who works at the supplies department of a private hospital in the central district of Karachi, has simply stopped using the air conditioner as he cannot afford mounting power tariffs.
Load shedding is one of the reasons for deaths during heatwave spells. It mainly targets the thickly-populated low-income localities like Orangi, Korangi, Landhi, Manghoo Pir, Sher Shah, Gul Bai, Gadap and Sohrab Goth. Apart from generation shortages and technical faults, a key company policy by the K-Electric, the sole power supplier for Karachi, is also behind lingering load shedding in these areas. The company provides electricity to an area on the basis of bill recovery; less recovery means less electricity.
Several areas of these localities remain without power for 10 to 12 hours a day because of non-payment of bills or electricity theft through the ‘kunda’ system by a sizable number of consumers. Kunda refers to unauthorised connections of wires to the power lines, bypassing the meters to avoid paying the bills. However, the brunt of these illegal means take a toll on the entire population of those areas. “Vulnerable people, including the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and low-income residents, are disproportionately impacted by rising temperatures,” said Nasir Panhwar, a Hyderabad based expert on climate change.
According to Panhwar, mobility has also become another thorny issue as heatwaves limit the ability of these groups to move around the city. Lack of green spaces and shaded areas in such neighborhoods further exacerbates the problem, he added.
Sharing a similar view, Tiwana said that public transport might become less accessible due to infrastructure issues or delays caused by overheating, further isolating individuals who already struggle to access essential services. Moreover, she added, vulnerable groups faced additional barriers in accessing healthcare, cooling centres and other public services during heat spells. “Heat can become life-threatening in urban slums and informal settlements, where residents often live in poorly ventilated housing without access to air conditioning,” she said.
Impact on livelihoods and education
Heatwaves have a direct effect on livelihoods, particularly for construction workers, street vendors, and delivery personnel who have to go out for work. According to Tiwana, as temperatures rise, productivity declines due to the unsafe working conditions created by extreme heat. Learning opportunities are also disrupted as educational institutes are closed to protect students from excessive heat even in the month of May. The lack of air conditioning in classrooms, according to her, might hinder concentration and learning. “The long-term educational outcomes of children in underprivileged urban areas could be negatively impacted, as they are often the ones most affected by extreme temperatures,” she said.
Prolonged and consistent heat waves, compounded by lingering dry spells, have a cascading impact on Pakistan’s agriculture sector, which directly employs 38 per cent of its population of over 240 million. This, according to experts, directly impacts the urban economics in many ways ranging from unemployment to food inflation and to industrial losses. “Heatwaves have badly impacted the country's agriculture sector in recent years, resulting in food insecurity and inflation, and reduction in industrial activities,” said Mahmood Nawaz Shah, a known agriculturist and president of the Sindh Abadgaar Board, a representative body of growers.
In recent years, he added, rising temperatures caused serious damages to several crops, vegetables and fruits, resulting in 30 per cent to 40 per cent lesser productions, and subsequently in higher prices. For instance, according to him, a sizeable amount of banana crop perished due to searing heat, hampering its supplies to big cities.
On the other hand, Waheed Ahmed, head of Pakistan’s Fruit and Vegetable Exporters’ Association, said that the most hit agricultural produce due to heatwave is mango, one of Pakistan’s most prized exports. Mango production has declined for three consecutive years, causing losses to exporters, aside from inflated prices. According to him, this year mango production in Punjab and Sindh provinces, the country's food baskets, was 30 per cent to 40 per cent less than the actual output of 1.8 million metric tonnes.
Karachi’s Malir and Gadap towns that traditionally supply fruits and vegetables to the city, have also seen dwindling yields due to climate impacts, including unpredictable heatwave spells over the past several years. Shah is of the view that any damage to agriculture means damage to urban economies, not only in terms of fewer raw materials for industries but also in terms of consumers. “For instance, this year, the country is likely to have 50 per cent less cotton crop due to heatwave conditions, meaning there will be fewer raw materials for textile mills and weaving units, less export orders, and low manpower requirements,” Shah said, adding that fewer crops meant less number of consumers of industrial products.
The country produced 34 per cent less cotton in 2023 as compared with the crop yield last season, according to Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association.
Government responses
The federal and provincial governments and NGOs at various levels have started implementing a range of measures to combat the effects of heatwaves, though the effectiveness and scope of these interventions vary. Common measures include the establishment of heat action plans, public awareness campaigns, and early warning systems that provide alerts for upcoming heat waves. Some cities have also opened cooling centres and distributed water to vulnerable populations during extreme heat events.
“The Karachi City government is working to retrofit buildings with energy efficient cooling systems and promote the development of green spaces to provide shade and reduce the urban heat island effect,” said Ali Hassan Sajid, a spokesman of the Karachi City Government.
Moreover, he added, tree planting initiatives, rooftop gardens, and reflective building materials were some of the sustainable urban planning approaches being implemented in the city to mitigate rising temperatures.
However, Panhwar felt that there was little implementation on the “green building code” because of higher construction costs. According to him, a preventive approach focused on improved urban development, building design, building codes, energy, and transport policies taking the needs and contributions of vulnerable groups into account can reduce the overall burden of heat and contribute to broader community health benefits.
Tailoring long-term strategies for land use regulation and development planning is equally crucial as Karachi is not homogenous in terms of urban development and land use. On the one side, the city has a highly congested, old city with mixed commercial, residential and industrial activities, with little green areas and narrow streets. On the other, it has high-end low density and low height residential areas with good enough green spaces. According to Panhwar, reforming existing building and land use regulations in the city and cantonment areas to incentivise green urbanisation including measures like rainwater harvesting and west-open buildings needs to be encouraged.
Tiwana, however, cautioned that despite these efforts, the situation was likely to worsen if sustainable and long-term measures were not adopted. “Continued reliance on fossil fuels, urban sprawl, and insufficient infrastructure investment could exacerbate heatwave frequency and intensity. Without significant action to reduce global carbon emissions and promote climate-resilient urban development, the socioeconomic wellbeing of urban dwellers will remain at risk,” she said.
Implementable solutions
While governments are taking steps to combat heatwaves, more comprehensive and sustainable measures are necessary to protect cities and their residents from the long-term impacts of rising temperatures. Without these measures, urban heatwaves will continue to disrupt everyday life, further deepening social inequalities and diminishing overall wellbeing.
Arif Hasan, a veteran city planner, stressed on sustainable tree plantation, urban forests, insulation of buildings, and easy availability of public transport to minimise the impacts of heatwaves. “While constructing houses and buildings, the external walls and roofs are seldom insulated, blocking cross ventilation, which is the most important thing. It is not easy to insulate buildings because of the cost. At present, the cheapest way of insulating the buildings is reflective paints, which are effective,” Hasan said.
According to Yasir Hussain, director of Karachi based think tank Climate Action Center, adoption of a holistic policy aimed at addressing the root causes such as reducing fossil fuel emissions and bolstering green infrastructure is pivotal to averting further degradation of urban life. The government, he said, should introduce tax free solar power and easy finance for solarisation for low income families.
“People should go for solar as soon as they can afford it. The previous 6 per cent World Bank-State Bank loan facility has expired without a replacement. A similar scheme needs to be put in place to assist both industry and consumers,” Hussain said.
Besides, he said, the government should introduce “least cost” power projects with revised social-environmental criteria integrated with it. This would imply that all coal power should be phased out, and no new coal plants should be added. He said a national carbon compliance policy needed to be put in place as soon as possible, but was against ‘voluntary’ carbon schemes, which could be risky.
