The heatwave season has begun. Already, Karachi is passing through the first of these heat waves as temperatures soar, but this is still not the worst heatwave on record. The worst heatwave to strike the city was in June 2024 in which according to records 568 people lost their lives.
On some days the heatwave was relentless and continued to claim lives like the 141 who died on 25th June alone. This time around, the heatwave is not as relentless as the previous one. On most days as evening draws near, the sea wind starts to penetrate and temperatures are brought down to a tolerable level.
The nights specially are not as bad as in the previous heatwave in which the temperatures between night and day hardly varied much and those not enjoying the benefits of an AC spent sleepless nights turning and twisting in their beds.
While the people of Karachi and to a greater extent the people in rural and more affected areas of Pakistan await the arrival of summer with some apprehension it is quite the opposite in cold countries like Canada where almost the reverse happens in times of winter and the people throughout the year await the arrival of winter and with it the cold waves that can plunge temperatures to as much as 35 below freezing at night and nearly 20 below freezing even during the day.
While the people of Karachi apart from getting their ACs serviced and ready for action and their generators filled with fuel can do little else to ward off the heatwave, the people in Canada do a few more preparations to welcome the winter and the ensuing cold wave and snow storms. Yes snow storms often accompany cold waves and could be quite intimidating piling up mountains of snow on your doorstep and keeping the entire family busy shovelling snow as that is the responsibility of the household bordering the piles of snow as is the clearing of main roads and highways the responsibility of those in power at various levels.
Talking of winter preparations, in winter in Canada the very first step taken is to change the tyres of your vehicle. There are special snow tyres with a deep tread for better grip of the slippery roads. It is almost mandatory for all vehicle drivers to have proper tyres during winter and if you are stuck on a slippery incline with normal tyres and blocking the road due to their negligence you can get a ticket very easily.
A ticket or as we call it a ‘Chalan’ in Pakistan is very serious business. This is nothing to be ignored, as happens here and has a date for a court appearance if you would like to contest and prove that you had not done anything wrong. After the changing of tyres there is the question of putting anti-freeze in your radiator as that will help the water resist freezing and thus the car heating up. A check on the wipers and you are almost ready to hit the road and yes before I forget in winter many people in Canada fill their car trunks with old and used tyres and other such stuff to give it better traction on the roads.
The reason for giving all these details is to point out that weather changes should be taken seriously, as that saves a lot of trouble for all concerned. If drivers in Canada were to ignore the change in weather they would be stuck at every crossroad with their radiators over heated or their tyres unable to firmly grip the road and then of course the ensuing chaos that will follow as happens in our beloved city after even a moderate downpour or an unusually hot day.
The one preparation Karachiites usually undertake is to raise the level of their exhaust pipes so they can wade through the little streams that spring up after rains and that too helps quite a bit but everything fails when there is a real downpour followed by strong winds and that due to weather changes might become a frequent occurrence for which we should remain prepared.
Please remain prepared and remember that the 2015 heatwave in Karachi was the 5th deadliest in global history and claimed 1180 innocent lives. This prompted the commissioner Karachi Heat Wave Management plan 2017 which I hope is still workable. Weather patterns are changing, and it is best to be safer than sorry.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a well-known columnist
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