Heat wave fatalities over India: 1978–2014

The present paper is an attempt to study the heat waves associated fatalities over space and time in India. For this, ‘Disastrous Weather Events’ reports statistics have been used for the period 1978–2014. The analysis has shown that a total of 660 heat wave events have caused 12,273 fatalities (about 332 fatalities every year). Only five states namely, Andhra Pradesh (42%), Rajasthan (17%), Odisha (10%), Uttar Pradesh (7%) and Bihar (7%) have accounted more than 80% of the heat wave fatalities, although nine states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Uttarakhand and Goa have never reported heat wave events and fatalities during 1978–2014. Interestingly, each event has resulted about 104 fatalities in Andhra Pradesh state. Further, fatality and density rates have been witnessed to the tune of 0.35 and 3.81 respectively. Temporally, heat wave events have displayed large differences with a significant increasing trend (P < 0.01), whereas no trend could be noticed in fatalities. Majority of events have been witnessed in May and June months. It has been observed that men have been more harshly affected compared to women and children. Finally, it is believed that this study may provide new insight towards making better disaster management guidelines for minimizing the shocks of harsh temperature.