Karachi, May 4: A Pakistani city might have set a world record temperature for the month of April. The mercury rose to more than 50C on Monday in Nawabshah, located about 127 miles northeast of Karachi. Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist at Meteo France, posted on Twitter that the temperature recorded in the city on Apr 30 was the highest ever for Pakistan as well as Asia. Christopher Burt, a global expert on weather extremes, claimed it may have been the highest ever recorded in the world in the month.

A resident, Ismail Domki told The Guardian, “We are worried that the extreme heat started too early this summer, and are planning to migrate to other cities if the situation remains the same,” one city resident.” According to The director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Ghulam Rasool, the department has issued forecasts about the extreme heat in Sindh province, but they were not expecting a world record in April.

The extreme heat conditions forced people to remain indoors during the day and it brought business to a halt. Recent summers across the Middle East and South Asia have produced unbearable heat above 50 degree Celsius. This has raised questions about the habitability of settlements from Iraq to India.

According to a report published in The Guardian, last year, Pakistan was ranked among the top 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change. A heat wave in Karachi in 2015 had left over 1,200 dead in the city, with over 40,000 suffering from heat strokes. Increasing temperatures in April may force local inhabitants to vacate for cooler places to escape the heat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2018 09:43 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).