Smart watches help monitor the deadly effects of extreme heat in India

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They are just above 10:00 in the morning Y The heat is actually pressing On the outskirts of the city of Ahmedabad, in the west India. Sebnabin Chunara, 30 years old and a mother of three children, has just ended her morning duties. Find the same heat in the shadow of the neem tree, a type that supports high temperatures and dryness.

Chunara spends most of the day in the open air in Vancara, a low neighborhood -from about 800 families, because it is at home with Tin roof Makes more hot. Interior temperatures can be higher, especially when they exceed 40 ° C outside. Before being strange, but this is now regularly. and This year, the heat started three weeks ago in previous yearsTouch 43 ° C at the beginning of April.

“Sometimes he does A lot of heat that I cannot think clearly“Chunara, with a smart black watch that contradicts its colored bracelets and its sree. Chunara is one of 204 Vanzara residents go What They have received smart watches for one study The period provided to know how the heat affects vulnerable societies around the world. Watches They measure the heart rate Pulse and control DreamParticipants are subject to weekly blood pressure controls.

The researchers also drew some surfaces Reflecting paint to reduce heat Interior and compare it to homes without new surfaces through Internal heat sensors. Along with smart watches, this will help you understand what extent Fresh surfaces can help homes The poor to deal with Abasadores de la India.

Chunara, who has not been installed in her home, says she is happy to participate in carrying the watch, and make sure that the results will also help her family. “They may also draw my roof, and they can Do something that helps the whole population Chunara says: From this area to better support heat, “says Chunara.

The deadly heat is the new natural in India

Cities like Ahmed Abad have always been hot summer, but they are now approaching the threshold It can be the exhibition for more than a few dead hours. In the summer of 2010, the city witnessed almost 1300 deathssurplus (How many people have died of what one expects), according to experts, they were to be in the words of high temperatures.

An increasingly hot planetSince burning fossil fuels in a large part of it, such as coal and gas that releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, this means that the warm areas are worse.

A study conducted in 2023 was estimated The average global temperature continues to increase Even less than 2 ° C, there will be an increase in 370 % of heat -related deaths Throughout the world, most of them will happen in southern and eastern Asia and Africa.

“It is about Source of anxietyIt also appears The heat gap between the poor and the wealthy“Abhi Toyari, climate expert in the Council of Natural Resources and part of the group that conducted the investigation of Ahmedabad.

After the 2010 tragedy, the municipal authorities were designed, with the help of experts in public health and heat, a The action plan to notify citizens when heat reaches dangerous levels Preparing the city’s hospitals to respond quickly to heat -related diseases. The plan has been cloned throughout India and other parts of South Asia.

The last two years have been the hottest in the worldThe researchers expect their work to provide an additional defense line for those who support the weight of the temperature.

Heat solutions

The study of Ahmedabad is only part of a global research project that studies How to affect heat in Poor and weak societies Of four cities around the world.

The researchers also measure the effects of heat through smart watches and other devices Burkina Faso (Africa), New (Pacific Ocean)Near New Zealand, and the area Sonora desert (Mexico).

More than 1.1 billion people – the eighth part of the world’s population – live in unofficial settlements and poor neighborhoods In particularAdity Bonker, an environmental health researcher associated with the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and the University of Heidelberg (Germany), which directs the global project.

In Ahmed Abad, BUNKER, with researchers from the Indian Institute of Public Health in Gandhinagar and the municipal institution in Ahmedabad, it brings together the continuous health data. If you discover that A new roof effectively reduces the inner heatThey plan to paint all the roofs.

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The researchers expect their study to increase the use of solutions such as fresh surfaces in the poor and weak population around the world, and Political official Take into account this type of solution when determining how their countries and societies can adapt to The increased heat exposure.

at present , population From Vanzara go like Chunara and her neighbor, Shaantaben Vanzara, they say they will accept any help they can receive. Shantabin Vanzara mentions that The heat exacerbated diabetesBut participating in the study gave a break to his family.

He explains: “The heat does not allow us to sleep.” “After drawing the ceiling, we can sleep at least a few hours per night.” Chunara said that Temperatures are used to be expected. “Now we don’t know when or what will happen,” he said. “The only thing we know with certainty is that the heat gets worse every year,” Chunara expressed.