Heat waves across Asia stoke health concerns, food security fears

Santosh Sikdar, 52, who does welding jobs for a small construction company in Kolkata, eastern India, finds the scorching weather "simply unbearable", but says he cannot afford to skip work, even for one day.

"This is a killing summer … a blast-furnace situation … hot, humid and sultry. Sometimes, I fear that I may collapse at any moment," he said.

Authorities and experts in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, advised people to stay at home, but Sikdar, who works for a daily wage, said that staying at home is not financially feasible.

"Even a day of missed work will mean that my family and I have empty stomachs," he said, questioning the "luxury" of staying indoors. "It is a matter of survival for us," he said.

Large parts of South and Southeast Asia are in the grip of unrelenting heat waves. New Delhi this summer recorded one of India's highest-ever temperatures of 49.9 C, while some areas in Pakistan hit 53 C.

Across the region, farmers have struggled to plant their crops, industries are facing labor shortages, and schools have shut for days amid the unrelenting heat.

Mehr Ghazanfar Abbas, a farmer in Layyah district in Pakistan's Punjab province, is one of those suffering. He recently collapsed under the blazing sun as he reached the middle of his field. Other farmers rushed to help, carrying him to a nearby medical unit where a doctor diagnosed him with sunstroke.