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β€˜The poorest of the poor are at the forefront of extreme weather’

Climate expert says children, the elderly, sick and those β€œwho do not have access to electricity, proper information and health facilities” are particularly vulnerable.

Exceptional heat is continuing to be felt across large parts of the northern hemisphere.

In China, Beijing has registered a record 27 days during which the temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.

The US city of Phoenix has endured even fiercer heat, with highs of at least 43 Celsius for 19 consecutive days.

In Italy, nearly every major city has a red alert heat warning, while wildfires are continuing to burn in Canada, Greece and Switzerland.

At the weekend, Iran's Persian Gulf International Airport experienced record-breaking heat due to a rare combination of extremely high temperature and abundant atmospheric moisture that created a heat index of 66.7 degrees Celsius.

Dr Fahad Saeed is part of the Climate Science and Impacts team at Climate Analytics, working as the regional lead for South Asia and the Middle East. He told Newsday: β€œThe ones who are the forefront of such heat events are the poorest of the poor, the ones who do not have access to electricity especially during the heatwaves.”

(Photo: Shows a child cooling off from the heat inside a water tank during a very hot summer at al-Nasr neighbourhood in Gaza City, Gaza on July 14, 2023. Credit: Mustafa Hassona / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.)

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