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Bengaluru: Extreme heat caused by the ongoing ‘Super’ El Niño could lead to an estimated 4,50,000 deaths worldwide in the first few months alone, according to a report published by the University of Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab on Wednesday (September 23). For India too, the figures are worrying: an estimated 15,000 deaths between just September and February. Nearly half those deaths will likely occur over just three months: December, January and February.

Experts who work on heat-related issues in India say the country should treat this as an important estimate and have urgent responses in place that go far and beyond mere heat alerts.

A Super El Niño that will claim lakhs of lives

A Super El Niño that will bring changes in weather and rainfall has gripped the world. Scientists are worried. On September 16, for instance, nearly 200 Indian ecologists published an open letter requesting fellow ecologists to strengthen monitoring data during the months to come so that the impacts of El Niño on ecological systems can be understood better. A few days before that, the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation announced that the El Niño is “firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, with big impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns and associated risks of floods, drought and extreme heat”.

Also read: Take Urgent Measures To Prep For ‘Super’ El Niño, Warn Nearly 200 Indian Ecologists

Scientists at the Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago, United States, estimated extreme heat-related deaths due to this year’s Super El Niño. They analysed seasonal mortality........

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