If climate change is making heat waves 100 times more likely in India, this is who will suffer most
CBSN
New Delhi — Shiv Shankar, 54, works all day on a construction site in the blistering New Delhi sun. He can't even think of taking a day off to avoid the deadly heat wave that has gripped India's capital and much of the country's north since late March. That would mean losing a day's wages, and his family of four simply can't afford it.
Hundreds of millions of workers in India and Pakistan spend every day outside, without the option of avoiding even the hottest hours of the day. Those workers may face increasing life or death choices about going to work, as scientists say climate change is making deadly, record-breaking heat waves like the one hitting northwest India and Pakistan right now 100 times more likely to occur.
A report published this week by the U.K. government's Meteorological Office says climate change has increased the chances of heat waves hitting the region from once every 312 years, to once every 3.1 years.
