Heatwave; Death toll reaches 700 in Pakistan

Islamabad

Pakistan's prime minister has called for emergency measures as the death toll from a heatwave in southern Sindh province reached nearly 700.The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Nawaz Sharif to take immediate action.

The army is also being deployed to help set up heat stroke centres, with temperatures reaching 45C (113F).Officials have been criticised for not doing enough to tackle the crisis.

There is anger among local residents at authorities because power cuts have restricted the use of air-conditioning units and fans.

Matters have been made worse by the widespread abstention from water during daylight hours during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Sporadic protests

On Tuesday, Sindh province Health Secretary Saeed Mangnejo said that 612 people had died in the main government-run hospitals in the city of Karachi during the past four days. Another 80 are reported to have died in private hospitals.

Many of the victims are elderly people from low-income families.Thousands more people are being treated, and some of them are in serious condition.

Hot weather is not unusual during summer months in Pakistan, but prolonged power cuts seem to have made matters worse. Sporadic angry protests have taken place in parts of Karachi, with some people blaming the government and Karachi's main power utility, K-Electric, for failing to avoid deaths.

The prime minister had announced that there would be no electricity cuts but outages have increased since the start of Ramadan, he said.