Over the past fortnight, a heatwave that had large swathes of the country in its grip, has claimed over 1,000 lives.
Most victims of sunstroke have been from two States - >Telangana and >Andhra Pradesh . But other States on the country's east coast have been feeling the heat, with reports of sunstroke-related deaths coming in from >Orissa and >West Bengal too.
Here's a map of indicating the places where heatwave was most fatal (with today's maximum temperatures):
Andhra Pradesh
867 Deaths
47 o Celsius
Telangana
200 Deaths
46 o Celsius
Odisha
67 Deaths
47.6 o Celsius
West Bengal
6 Deaths
36.2 o Celsius
On Tuesday, Titlagarh in Orissa recorded 47.6 degrees Celsius; but on Saturday, the maximum temperature in Khammam in Telangana was even higher, at 48 degrees. At 45 degrees Celsius, the temperature in the >Capital on Tuesday was still five degrees above normal.
Unsurprisingly, most reports of heat-related deaths were of people from lower income groups, often daily wage workers such as this >factory worker .
In Telangana, the Osmania and Fever Hospitals were crowded with patients. >Doctors here pointed out that the elderly - especially diabetics, kidney and heart patients - were particularly vulnerable to heatstrokes. The clinical manifestations of a heat stroke - when the core body temperature rises - are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, disorientation and dizziness, they added.
Click here for a >slideshow on how India coped.
