India's Pre-Monsoon Temps 4-5C Above Normal For April; 300+ Dead From Heat, Fires
PATNA, INDIA – With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives in India in April, officials said they were banning daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country in a bid to prevent accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 more people.
The eastern state of Bihar this past week took the unprecedented step of forbidding any cooking between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people. They included 10 children and five adults killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in Bihar’s Aurangabad district a week ago.
People were instead told to cook at night. Hoping to prevent more fires, officials have also barred burning spent crops or holding religious fire rituals. Anyone defying the ban risks up to a year in jail. “We call this the fire season in Bihar,” Vyas, a state disaster management official who goes by one name, said Friday. “Strong, westerly winds stoke fires which spread easily and cause great damage.”
Much of India is reeling under a heat wave and severe drought conditions that have decimated crops, killed livestock and left at least 330 million Indians without enough water for their daily needs. Rivers, lakes and dams have dried up in parts of the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and groundwater reservoirs are at just 22 percent capacity.
EDIT
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/30/asia-pacific/parts-india-ban-daytime-cooking-hundreds-die-heat-fire/#.VyalrHrtged
