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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Truth Hurts" data-source="post: 29716293" data-attributes="member: 477372">Thousands of schools in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/philippines" target="_blank">Philippines</a> have stopped in-person classes due to unbearable heat. In Indonesia, prolonged dry weather has caused rice prices to soar. In Thailand’s waters, temperatures are so high that scientists fear coral could be destroyed.<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/471090c7c35175fb16573fe1bf8e6fc48447bef8/0_263_4000_2399/master/4000.jpg?width=480&dpr=2&s=none" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />A “historic heatwave” is being experienced across south-east Asia, according to Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian. In updates posted on X, he said heat that was unprecedented for early April had been recorded at monitoring stations across the region this week, including in Minbu, in central Myanmar, where 44C was recorded – the first time in south-east Asia’s climatic history that such high temperatures had been reached so early in the month. In Hat Yai, in Thailand’s far south, 40.2 C was reached, an all-time record, while Yên Châu in north-west Vietnam hit 40.6C, unprecedented for this time of year.The latest intense weather follows <a href="https://wmo.int/media/news/february-ends-extreme-and-unusual-heat" target="_blank">warnings last month</a> by the World Meteorological Organization that the region had also been “gripped by severe heat conditions” in February when temperatures frequently soared into the high-30s – well above the seasonal average. It attributed the scorching weather to human-induced climate change, as well as the El Niño event, which brings hotter, drier conditions to the region.“The level of heat the globe has experienced over the last 12 months, both on the land and in the ocean has surprised science,” said Prof Benjamin Horton, the director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore. “We always knew we were going to be headed in this direction with our increasing greenhouse gases, but the fact that we’re shattering all these records in 2023, and 2024, is perhaps slightly ahead of time.”“We’re just not prepared. There’s very few, if any, places in the world that are resilient to this type of heat,” he said, adding that societies needed to adapt.Governments across the region are grappling with how to respond. In the Philippines, almost <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1924978/live-updates-classes-suspended-amid-heatwave" target="_blank">4,000 schools have suspended in-person classes</a> as the heat index passed 42C in some areas, a dangerous level that the weather bureau warned could cause heat cramps and exhaustion.During the Easter week in Manila, children played in portable pools set up in the streets to try to stay cool.<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/73f8656ded8c345604bc2483710d5b9a784d3e40/0_64_3881_2329/master/3881.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none" alt="Pedestrians shield themselves from sunlight during hot weather in Bangkok" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Pedestrians shield themselves from sunlight during hot weather in Bangkok. Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA“Our classrooms are not resilient in this kind of weather. We have a ratio of one to 60-70 students in a classroom that does not have proper ventilation,” said Ruby Bernardo, the president of the teaching union the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in the National Capital Region. In a recent survey by the union, 90% of teachers said they had just two fans in a classroom to stay cool.The intense heat has also caused havoc in agriculture. In Indonesia, which experienced prolonged dry weather last year, President Joko Widodo resorted to ordering the military to help farmers plant rice when rains finally arrived in December. The cost of rice, a staple food for the country’s 270 million people, rose more than 16% in February compared with last year, according to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sprawling-queues-subsidised-rice-highlight-plight-indonesias-poor-2024-02-28/" target="_blank">Reuters report</a>. Queues for government-subsidised rice have stretched for hours.In Vietnam, water levels were so low in canals earlier this year that farmers in some areas reportedly struggled to transport their crops. In Thailand, a fall in crop yields will cause farmers’ debt to increase by 8% this year, according to economic analysis <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2732665/el-ni%C3%B1o-to-push-up-farm-debts" target="_blank">cited by the Bangkok Post</a>. In Malaysia, authorities have deployed cloud seeding in areas affected by lack of rainfall.<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/04/schools-close-and-crops-wither-as-historic-heatwave-hits-south-east-asia" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/04/schools-close-and-crops-wither-as-historic-heatwave-hits-south-east-asia</a></blockquote>

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