“When it gets that hot, you can’t even stay on your feet,” said a resident of one of the hottest cities on Earth, Jacobabad. In the summers, the temperatures in the Pakistani city can go up to a scorching 52.0°C, resulting in the hospitals filled with heatstroke cases.
“It’s a very, very difficult time when it goes beyond 50C. People do not come out of their houses and the streets are deserted,” Abdul Baqi, a resident, told Telegraph UK.
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What makes it worse for the 200,000 residents, is the frequent power outages. The mixture of heat and humidity has made the city one of only two places the world to have now passed a threshold that is hotter than the human body can handle.
Experts suggest that the temperatures may increase further as the city is located along the Indus Valley, which is one of the places most vulnerable to climate change.
“The Indus Valley is arguably close to being the number one spot worldwide. When you look at some of the things to worry about, from water security to extreme heat, it’s really the epicentre,” Tom Matthews, a lecturer in climate science, told Telegraph UK.
Matthews, along with a few colleagues, examined what are called wet bulb temperatures. For this, they used a thermometer covered in a water-soaked cloth. They said that at a wet bulb reading of 35°C, a human body can no longer cool itself by sweating. Jacobabad has crossed the wet bulb on several occasions.
“It approximates how warm it feels to humans because we cool via sweating. We rely on that exclusively. When you use that measure, the wet bulb temperature, the two regions that stand out on earth are the shores of the Gulf and the Indus Valley in Pakistan. They are truly exceptional,” Matthews said.