To document one of the most widespread threats — extreme heat — The Post and CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that develops publicly available climate data, used new models and massive data sets to produce the most up-to-date predictions of how often people in nearly 15,500 cities would face such intense heat that they could quickly become ill — in the near-term and over the coming decades. The analysis is based on a measure called wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which takes into account air temperature, humidity, radiation and wind speed, and is increasingly used by scientists to determine how heat stresses the human body.
In Bagh Yusuf, life has returned to some semblance of normalcy after the floods, but several aftershocks remain. All but about six of the families who had fled returned. The residents were able to clear the cemetery and have their annual religious festival, where they pray to their ancestors and celebrate with a mutton feast. The farmers who live in their village revved up their gaily decorated red tractors and begin planting again.
But hunger remains a problem.
Muhammad Ishaq, 42, lost his cotton crop during the flood, along with the $81 he’d invested in seed and insecticide. After the floods, the debt made farming impossible, so he began laboring as a stone crusher for about $3 a day. In April, he was able to sow his cotton crop, he said, but water is scarce.
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“We hardly eat two times a day,” he said. They generally eat bread, okra or potatoes for breakfast, lentils for lunch and goat milk and bread for dinner. The younger of his five children often whimper and cry from hunger, he said.
