India: Extreme Heat is a Slow-Onset and Unequal Urban Disaster, Southasiadisasters.net Issue No.233 | August 2026

Please refer to the attached file. “Heat justice must begin where heat risk is highest — with workers, women, children, commuters, migrants, and low-income communities who carry the greatest burden but have the least protection. ” – Mihir R. Bhatt, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), India The latest issue of Southasiadisasters. net focuses on “Extreme Heat is a Slow-Onset and Unequal Urban Disaster. ” The issue highlights how extreme heat creates unequal risks for outdoor workers, small businesses, and low-income communities. Extreme heat is no longer only a seasonal weather concern. It is a slow-onset and unequal urban disaster that affects health, livelihoods, productivity, water access, sleep, mental wellbeing, mobility, housing, and local economies. Unlike floods or cyclones, heat often builds quietly over time, and its impacts remain less visible but deeply damaging. This issue brings together field evidence, policy reflections, community voices, and practical lessons on heat action, social investment, worker protection, anticipatory action, citizen-led monitoring, and community heat resilience. In this Issue Mobilising Social Investment for Urban Heat Resilience in Asia: Reflections from the AVPN Climate x Health Community of Practice Melissa Ananthraj, Director, Programs, Climate Action, AVPN, Asia The Mind in the Heat: Mental Health Among Ahmedabad’s Mobility Workforce Rohan Trivedi, AIDMI, India Extreme Heat and Unequal Risks for Workers Sharon Block, Professor of Practice, Executive Director, Center for Labor and a Just Economy, Harvard Law School, United States Participatory Knowledge and Extreme Heat: Strengthening People-Centred Local Urban Resilience Piyush Poddar, Lead-Programmes, Martha Farrell Foundation, New Delhi, India Extreme Heat as a Slow-Onset and Unequal Urban Disaster Jyoti Mackwan, General Secretary, SEWA, India Extreme Heat and Equitable Anticipatory Action: Progress and Challenges in Communities of India Santhosh Srikanth Pattar, Country Director, ADRA India अत्यधिक गर्मी: धीमी और असमान शहरी आपदा AIDMI Team, India Heat Inequity in Mumbai: A Silent, Invisible Public Health Crisis Among Urban Poor Nidhi Jamwal, Climate Journalist, Mumbai, India Extreme Heat and Priority Areas for Building Equal Resilience in India Priyanka Thirumurthy, Head of Communications, Asar Social Impact Advisors, Karnataka, India HeatWatch and Citizen-Led Monitoring: Making Urban Heat Inequality Visible Ananya Tiwary and Apekshita Varshney, Project Associate, HeatWatch, Maharashtra, India Citizen Power for Community Heat Resilience: Small Businesses Taking Collective Action Pallavi Rathod, AIDMI, India Active Heat Justice Must Shape Urban Resilience Mihir R. Bhatt, AIDMI, India

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