While heavy rains are causing flooding in China, Pakistan and parts of India, Japan and South Korea have been gripped by scorching heat, and extreme weather conditions have already claimed hundreds of lives in the region, reports BBC.
Scientists have indicated that climate change has made extreme weather conditions stronger, more frequent and more difficult to predict. This is especially noticeable in Asia, which, according to the World Meteorological Organization, is warming twice as fast as other parts of the world.
Extreme weather conditions have cost the region around two trillion dollars in the last thirty years.
On the 5th of August, Japan set a new national heat record of +41.8 degrees Celsius, and experienced the hottest June and July on record. A heatwave is thought to have killed 56 people between mid-June and the end of July. Authorities have suspended some train lines, fearing the tracks could warp in the heat.
An office worker told AFP he was worried about global warming but could not live without air conditioning.
The heat in Japan is expected to ease in the coming days,
with some areas expecting significant rainfall.
Meanwhile, South Korea has seen 22 consecutive days of “tropical nights” with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius. Emergency services there have also been hit by a surge in calls about heat-related health problems. Government agencies and many workplaces have relaxed dress codes for employees to help them feel more comfortable and reduce the use of air conditioning during the heatwave.
Parts of Vietnam are also suffering from unprecedented heat, with Hanoi recording temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in August.
China, meanwhile, is in a different situation, with devastating floods sweeping the country. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed at the airport in the capital of Guangdong province, and flooded streets are increasing the risk of a further spread of Chikungunya fever.
Rainfall is common in southern China at this time of year,
but it has been made more intense by tropical storm activity. In the last week of July alone, three major storms were active in the western Pacific.
Floods hit mountainous areas of the Chinese capital Beijing in July, killing dozens of people. Heavy rains are particularly deadly in mountainous areas, where landslides are a risk, and in densely populated areas, where flooding often catches residents off guard.
Hundreds of people, including many children, have been missing and killed in floods in India and Pakistan. At least a quarter of school buildings in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been destroyed.
Read also: Chikungunya fever outbreak in China