Thousands of schools have been forced to tell students to stay indoors as a wave of extreme heat has hit the region over the past week, with temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius.
The Philippines announced on Sunday that all public schools will be closed for two days after a record-breaking hot day in the capital, Manila.
In Thailand, where at least 30 people have already died from heatstroke this year, the meteorological department warned of severe conditions after temperatures soared above 44.1 degrees Celsius in the northern province on Saturday.
In Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh, forecasters have warned that temperatures could exceed 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days, as people are already suffering from sweltering heat and suffocating humidity.
“I dare not go outside during the day. I’m afraid of heatstroke,” said a 39-year-old cashier from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, who gave her name as San Yin.
She said she and her husband and four-year-old son went to the park at night to escape the heat in their fourth-floor apartment.
“It’s the only place in the neighborhood where we can hide from the heat,” she said.
Global temperatures reached record highs last year, and the United Nations Meteorological and Climate Agency says it rose fastest in Asia.
Scientific studies have shown that climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
