National emergency call sought for India heatwaveAFP, NEW DELHIAn Indian court on Thursday urged the Indian government to declare a national emergency over the country’s ongoing heatwave, saying that hundreds of people have died during weeks of extreme weather. India is enduring a crushing heatwave with temperatures in several cities well above 45°C. An aerial photograph shows people waiting by a well in Shahapur District in India’s Maharashtra state on Sunday. Photo: AFP“Due to extreme weather conditions in the form of [the] heatwave, hundreds of people have lost their lives this month,” the court said. Ruling on the heatwave and such events in the future, it also said India should begin declaring them “national calamities.”This would allow the mobilization of emergency relief in a similar manner to floods, cyclones and natural disasters.
