Karachi opens 179 heat relief centres as temperatures set to soar beyond 40 degrees

Last summer, temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius led to more than a thousand heat-related deaths in Karachi. This year, as it prepares for the peak of summer heat, the city has opened 179 heatstroke centres to try to hold down the death toll.

Officials have also trained scores of new ambulance drivers and are working with utility companies to try to keep electricity and water flowing as the city’s 24 million people battle summer heat during the month-long Islamic fast of Ramadan, when drinking water and eating is forbidden during daylight hours.

Imams have said those whose life is at risk from the fast need not keep to it in extreme conditions.

“If a doctor says that your life is threatened due to the scorching heat, or you have a medical condition and it is going to get worse due to the fasting, then you can skip the daily fast,” said Muhammad Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, an organisation of scholars and religious clerics.

If any area of Pakistan is hit by extreme heat during Ramadan, which began on June 7, the council will remind followers of that flexibility in public service media announcements, he said.