Over a decade ago, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, faced a severe heatwave that led to numerous deaths. To prevent a similar tragedy, the Government developed the country’s first ‘Heat Action Plan’ (HAP) to protect the city from extreme heat.
As cities receive warnings about upcoming heatwaves, Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan (HAP) has become a model for other cities to follow. Here are a few steps they followed to reduce heat-related death.
Heat wards were made in the hospitals to prioritise treating patients with heatstroke, rashes or exhaustion.
According to a Bloomberg report, “City authorities sent heat alerts by SMS and WhatsApp and put out press releases and billboard messages — but Ahmedabad’s most vulnerable are often illiterate. So authorities engaged health workers, community leaders and radio hosts to communicate weather warnings and advice for staying cool.”
Another initiative to reach the most vulnerable and rural areas was by giving them a cool roof. Over 15,000 homes’ roofs were painted with white paint to reflect the sun’s rays.
The city also developed ‘ModRoofs’ made from coconut husk and paper waste, serving as an affordable alternative to regular roofs. It also had water sprinklers at traffic signals along with buttermilk distribution programmes.
With these efforts, the city was able to reduce heat-related deaths, becoming a model for more than 100 cities, such as Nagpur and Bhubaneswar, in the country.
(Edited by Pranita Bhat)
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