Andhra Pradesh: Deaths due to heatwave decline drastically in 5 years

Vijayawada: Deaths caused by heatwave in summer drastically declined in the State during the last five years. A total of 1,369 deaths caused by heatwave were reported in 2015 and the number gradually decreased to 723 in 2016 and to 236 in subsequent year. Only eight cases of death registered in 2018 and again went up to 28 in 2019. Last year, no case of death due to heatwave registered in the State, according to Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority.

In a statement on Thursday, APSDMA executive director C Nagarju announced that the APSDMA is giving alerts to the people in summer and releasing the forecast bulletins about the high temperatures recorded in the districts in the summer.

He conducted the videoconference with the officials of the district on Thursday and gave guidelines to be followed during the summer. He said that 2,812 people lost their lives due to heatwave in the State since 2014 and the deaths were gradually decreasing over the years.

He said that Central Coastal districts of East and West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts along with Prakasam have registered the highest temperatures with more than 47 degrees Celsius in May 2020. North Coastal districts of Srikakulam, Viziangaram and Visakhapatnam have registered the highest temperature of 44 to 45.1 degrees Celsius in 2020.

Rayalaseema districts of Chittoor, Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapuram have recorded the highest temperatures of 44 to 47.2 degrees Celsius in the summer.

He said the APSDMA would release action plan on precautions to be taken by the people in the summer 2021. He said the APSDMA will release weather bulletins with forecast of five days temperatures and two days heatwave. He warned the people to be on high alert in the summer as there is scope for thunderstorms and lightning caused by Cumulonimbus clouds.

He announced a separate department will be formed to supervise the heatwave conditions and set up in the State Emergency Operation Centre and posters will be sent to the districts to prevent the deaths caused by heatwave in the summer 2021. Officials of the department P Seshasri, Ch Santi Swarup, MM Ali and others attended the videoconference.