The cost of Indias unbearable heat
The Post\u2019s Annie Gowen walks us through the immediate effects of climate change on India\u2019s megacities and what the future looks like for residents of Kolkata facing record-breaking heat.
Read more:
After three days of no power this April, the people of Kasia Bagan had had enough. Temperatures were reaching record highs, with no AC to help. Yet down the main lane of the neighborhood, the Quest Mall towered, humming with electrical power.
Residents such as Sana Mumtaz, a divorced mother of three who lives on the lane with eight relatives in one room, felt her neighbors\u2019 anger growing out of control.
The news of heat-related deaths in the neighborhood spread, resulting in protestors occupying the Quest Mall. Mumtaz, facing heat-related illnesses while providing for her family of nine, felt frustrated.
\u201cIt is so hot,\u201d she said, \u201cwe cannot survive this way.\u201d
The suburbs of Kolkata are significantly cooler while the temperatures of poorer neighborhoods such as Kasia Bagan remain unbearable. As the rich continue to adopt air conditioning and the poor do not, access to air conditioning during extreme heat waves makes the difference between life and death.
Subscribe to The Washington Post: washingtonpost.com/subscribe