During the study Saeed Ali arrived at the hospital in Jacobabad – one of the only but warmest cities in Pakistan – his body was paralyzed due to the heat.
The 12-year-old boy fainted after returning home from school in the hot sun, spending his day in a classroom with no fans.
“The rickshaw driver had to carry my son here. He could not even walk, ”said the boy’s mother Shaheela Jamali AFP from his bed.
Jacobabad is in the grip of the latest heat to hit South Asia – up by 51 degrees over the weekend.
The canals in the city – the most important source of irrigation for nearby farms – are dry, and the stagnation of stagnant water can not be seen near the scattered rubbish.
Experts say that global warming is related to global warming.
Read: UN guidelines for global warming are ‘a major concern’ in South Asia
The city is on the verge of climate change, said Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hafeez Siyal. “All life here is difficult.”
Many of the one million people in Jacobabad and surrounding villages live in extreme poverty, and water shortages and power shortages threaten their ability to withstand heat.
It leaves residents facing hardships.
Doctors said Saeed was in critical condition, but his mother – driven by a desire to escape poverty – said he would return to school next week.
“We don’t want them to grow into workers,” said Jamali AFPher son did not bother and tears next to her.
Read: Is Jacobabad ready for climate change?
Heatstroke – when the body is too hot to cool down — can cause symptoms ranging from headaches and nausea to joint inflammation, unconsciousness, and death.
Nurse Bashir Ahmed, who treats Saeed at a new heatstroke clinic run by a local NGO for Community Development, said the number of patients experiencing adverse conditions was increasing.
Previously, temperatures were peak in June and July, but now it comes in May, ”said Ahmed.
Workers who are forced to work hard in the sun are among the most vulnerable.
Bricklayers trade in their trade alongside a furnace up to 1,000 ° C.
“The heat makes us want to vomit sometimes, but if I can’t work, I can’t get paid,” said Rasheed Rind, who started the site as a child.
‘Water mafia’
Life in Jacobabad is governed by heat resistance efforts.
It is like a blazing fire on every side. What we really need is electricity and water, ”said blacksmith Shafi Mohammad.
Power outages mean only six hours of electricity a day in rural areas and 12 hours in the city.
Access to drinking water is unreliable and inaccessible due to national shortages and major infrastructure problems.
Khairun Nissa gave birth during the heat, her last days of pregnancy spilled out under a single ceiling fan shared among her 13th family.
Her two-day-old son is now living in her home under a breeze.
“Yes I am worried about her heat, but I know God will provide for us,” said Nissa.
Outside their three-room brick house, where the smell of rotten garbage and stagnant water hangs in the air, a water tap installed by the government dries up.
But the local “water mafia” fills the supply space.
They have typed into government reserves to supply water to their water points where cans are filled and transported by donkey cart for sale for R20 per 20 liters.
“If our water plants did not exist, there would be great hardship for the people of Jacobabad,” said Zafar Ullah Lashari, who works for an unauthorized, unregulated water supply.
‘There is nothing we can do’
In a farming village outside the city, women get up at 3:00 am to pump drinking water all day at the well – but it is not enough.
“We prefer our cattle to have clean drinking water first, because our livelihood depends on them,” said Abdul Sattar, who raises buffalo for milk and sells it at the market.
There is no excuse for this, even when children suffer from skin conditions and diarrhea.
“It’s hard to choose but if the cows are dead, how will the children eat?” he said.
Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to climate change caused by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index compiled by the German environmental NGO NGO.
Floods, droughts and hurricanes in recent years have killed and left thousands of homes, destroyed livelihoods and damaged infrastructure.
Many people choose to leave Jacobabad in the hottest months, leaving some villages empty.
Sharaf Khatoon shared a temporary camp in the city with up to 100 survivors of the few rupees earned by male family members for hard work.
They usually move the camp to the hottest months, a distance of 200 miles[300 km]to Quetta, where temperatures reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit[20 ° C].
But this year they will be traveling late, struggling to save on travel expenses.
“We have a headache, unusual heartbeats, skin problems, but there is nothing we can do about it,” said Khatoon.
Professor Nausheen H. Anwar, who studies urban planning in tropical cities, said authorities need to look beyond immediate responses and think for a long time.
“Considering the heat waves is important, but the constant heat is very important,” he said.
“Increasingly in areas such as Jacobabad is deteriorating infrastructure and access to water and electricity which threatens the community’s resilience.”
‘Battlefield’
In a dry garbage can, hundreds of boys and a handful of Jacobabad girls arrived at the school to prepare for their final exams.
They gather around a hand pump to swallow water, exhausted even before the day starts.
“The biggest problem we are facing is the lack of basic facilities – which is why we are having a lot of problems,” said headmaster Rashid Ahmed Khalhoro.
“We try to keep the children’s behavior high but the heat is affecting their mental and physical health.”
With the onset of extreme temperatures earlier this year, he has urged the government to extend the summer holidays, which usually start in June.
Few classrooms have fans, though most do not. When the electricity is off for just one hour to a school day, everyone is in dense darkness.
Some rooms are so weak that children have to be moved into the hallways, and young people often faint.
“It’s getting hot. We sweat a lot and our clothes go down, ”said 15-year-old Ali Raza.
Tell the boys AFP they had frequent headaches and diarrhea but refused to skip classes.
Khalhoro said his students were determined to break free from poverty and find jobs where they could escape the heat.
“They are prepared as if they were on a battlefield, with the motivation that they have to achieve something.”
