with no chances of rain 
Two women cross the parched and cracked riverbed at Gabtali in Dhaka on Saturday to fetch water from afar as drinking water becomes scarce amid frequent power outages and in the absence of rain.
People are likely to suffer more in the sweltering heat as meteorologists on Saturday said the heat wave now sweeping over a half of the country might continue for a couple of days.
In the absence of rain, a draught-like situation coupled with a decline in the groundwater level has also put farmers in trouble as they could not irrigate the cropland.
A moderate heat wave is sweeping over Dhaka and other districts and a mild-to-moderate wave is blowing over Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions and the regions of Mymensingh and other districts, meteorologist Farah Deeba told New Age on Saturday.
‘The heat wave may continue for a few more days as there are very little chances of rain,’ she said.
Ainun Nishat, country director of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union, said the frequency of heat wave is likely to increase for lack of rainfall resulting from climate change.
‘A number of thunderstorms are likely to blow over the country during the period,’ he said.
Ekabbar Ali, a farmer at Naohata of Paba in Rajshahi, said jute plants on his 12 bighas of land and maize on six bighas were dying, according to a Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha report.
‘We have become helpless as other crops are also dying,’ said another farmer, Bodiuzzaman, of Dadpur.
Shah Mohammad Ullah, a professor of the soil, water and environment department in Dhaka University, also said the heat wave might damage the crops.
‘The country’s soil usually keeps 33 per cent of water. The ongoing heat wave may reduce the moisture in the ground for paddy could become waste,’ he said.
Vegetables require a huge amount of water and if the farmers fail irrigate the land, the plants will not survive, he said.
He feared farmers might fall into a serious financial crisis if such a weather would continue for some more days.
Physicians, meanwhile, warned that people might suffer from high blood pressure and heart ailments because of the heat wave.
The day’s highest temperature, 41.6 degree Celsius, was recorded in Jessore.
Physicians and hospitals sources said extreme summer heat was causing not only diarrhoea, but also heat stroke, cramps, dehydration, itching and jaundice.
Thousands of people, especially children and the aged, have contracted diarrhoea, pneumonia and other viral diseases, according to the disease control room of the Directorate General of Health Services.
About 2,000 diarrhoeal patients are admitted to hospital on an average every day with a mortality rate ranging between one and five, according to the data provided by the control room.
The control room, however, has no data on pneumonia, jaundice and other viral diseases although medical experts have noticed an increased prevalence of such heat-related ailments across the country in a week.
Attendance in schools dropped significantly with some of the schools having nearly 50 per cent of the students absent because of illness.
According to the health services control room and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, at least 18 people died and more than 62,148 diarrhoea patients were admitted to hospital across the country in a month.
Eight hundred and ninety-seven people in and around Dhaka were admitted to the ICDDR,B hospital at Mohakhali with diarrhoea till 8:00am Saturday and the number is feared to cross a thousand by the end of the day, said doctors at the short stay unit of the ICDDR,B.
Two women cross the parched and cracked riverbed at Gabtali in Dhaka on Saturday to fetch water from afar as drinking water becomes scarce amid frequent power outages and in the absence of rain.People are likely to suffer more in the sweltering heat as meteorologists on Saturday said the heat wave now sweeping over a half of the country might continue for a couple of days.
In the absence of rain, a draught-like situation coupled with a decline in the groundwater level has also put farmers in trouble as they could not irrigate the cropland.
A moderate heat wave is sweeping over Dhaka and other districts and a mild-to-moderate wave is blowing over Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions and the regions of Mymensingh and other districts, meteorologist Farah Deeba told New Age on Saturday.
‘The heat wave may continue for a few more days as there are very little chances of rain,’ she said.
Ainun Nishat, country director of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union, said the frequency of heat wave is likely to increase for lack of rainfall resulting from climate change.
‘A number of thunderstorms are likely to blow over the country during the period,’ he said.
Ekabbar Ali, a farmer at Naohata of Paba in Rajshahi, said jute plants on his 12 bighas of land and maize on six bighas were dying, according to a Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha report.
‘We have become helpless as other crops are also dying,’ said another farmer, Bodiuzzaman, of Dadpur.
Shah Mohammad Ullah, a professor of the soil, water and environment department in Dhaka University, also said the heat wave might damage the crops.
‘The country’s soil usually keeps 33 per cent of water. The ongoing heat wave may reduce the moisture in the ground for paddy could become waste,’ he said.
Vegetables require a huge amount of water and if the farmers fail irrigate the land, the plants will not survive, he said.
He feared farmers might fall into a serious financial crisis if such a weather would continue for some more days.
Physicians, meanwhile, warned that people might suffer from high blood pressure and heart ailments because of the heat wave.
The day’s highest temperature, 41.6 degree Celsius, was recorded in Jessore.
Physicians and hospitals sources said extreme summer heat was causing not only diarrhoea, but also heat stroke, cramps, dehydration, itching and jaundice.
Thousands of people, especially children and the aged, have contracted diarrhoea, pneumonia and other viral diseases, according to the disease control room of the Directorate General of Health Services.
About 2,000 diarrhoeal patients are admitted to hospital on an average every day with a mortality rate ranging between one and five, according to the data provided by the control room.
The control room, however, has no data on pneumonia, jaundice and other viral diseases although medical experts have noticed an increased prevalence of such heat-related ailments across the country in a week.
Attendance in schools dropped significantly with some of the schools having nearly 50 per cent of the students absent because of illness.
According to the health services control room and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, at least 18 people died and more than 62,148 diarrhoea patients were admitted to hospital across the country in a month.
Eight hundred and ninety-seven people in and around Dhaka were admitted to the ICDDR,B hospital at Mohakhali with diarrhoea till 8:00am Saturday and the number is feared to cross a thousand by the end of the day, said doctors at the short stay unit of the ICDDR,B.
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