Rising Temperatures, Deadly Threat: Recommendations for Ahmedabad’s Government Officials

This 2013 policy brief provides recommendations for government officials in Ahmedabad, India, to mitigate the deadly health impacts of extreme heat. It highlights Ahmedabad's role as the first Indian city to develop a heat-health early warning system and suggests specific interventions, such as creating a nodal coordination office, implementing 'cool roofs' (white china mosaic), expanding urban green cover, and improving labor protections for outdoor workers. The brief emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary coordination between meteorological services, health departments, and municipal administration to protect vulnerable populations, particularly in slum communities.

• Ahmedabad is the first city in India to develop a comprehensive early warning system and preparedness plan for extreme heat events, a project led by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in partnership with several academic and environmental organizations.
• The Meteorological Centre in Ahmedabad defines a heat wave as occurring when the daily maximum temperature exceeds 40°C (104°F), provided the forecast maximum is 5°C to 6°C above normal, or if the forecast maximum exceeds 45°C (113°F) regardless of the normal maximum.
• During a historic heat wave in May 2010, temperatures in Ahmedabad reached 46.8°C (116°F), which was associated with a substantial increase in estimated daily mortality rates.
• The AMC has implemented scalable cooling measures at the Smt. Shardaben General Hospital, including replacing a black tar roof with a reflective white china mosaic roof and moving the maternity ward from the top floor to the ground floor during summer to reduce infant mortality.
• Current heat wave warning protocols are fragmented; while the Met Centre notifies the state government 48 hours in advance, municipal hospitals are not currently notified of these warnings by either the Met Centre or the AMC.
• To improve urban cooling, the AMC has conducted a tree census and organized a massive planting drive starting in 2010, where over 29,000 people planted 848,301 saplings across 400 sites.
• The document recommends the creation of a Heat-Health Nodal Office within the AMC to coordinate communication between the Met Centre, hospitals, and media, and to manage interventions like providing water tankers during heat events.
• The report identifies critical gaps in disaster management databases; specifically, heat waves are not currently included in the National Disaster Management Authority's national disaster categories nor in the Gujarat State Disaster Resource Network database.
• Recommendations for the Health Department include training 'link workers' for community-based surveillance in slum communities and establishing air-conditioned treatment rooms in hospitals to improve patient and worker outcomes.
• The brief suggests improving protections for outdoor workers, such as traffic police, by installing covered booths, providing oxygen to mitigate poor air quality, and implementing flexible shift times during extreme heat.

APA

Mavalankar, D., Azhar, G. S., Sarma, A., Rajiva, A., Thube, N., Dholakia, H., Hess, J., Van Tran, K., Sheffield, P., Jaiswal, A., Knowlton, K., Khosla, R., Connolly, M., Deol, B., Casey-Lefkowitz, S., & Gill, G. (2013). Rising Temperatures, Deadly Threat: Recommendations for Ahmedabad’s Government Officials. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/india-heat-government-officials-IB.pdf

Chicago

Mavalankar, Dileep, Gulrez Shah Azhar, Amruta Sarma, Ajit Rajiva, Nilesh Thube, Hem Dholakia, Jeremy Hess, et al. Rising Temperatures, Deadly Threat: Recommendations for Ahmedabad’s Government Officials. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2013. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/india-heat-government-officials-IB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mavalankar |first1=Dileep |last2=Azhar |first2=Gulrez Shah |last3=Sarma |first3=Amruta |last4=Rajiva |first4=Ajit |last5=Thube |first5=Nilesh |last6=Dholakia |first6=Hem |last7=Hess |first7=Jeremy |last8=Van Tran |first8=Kathy |last9=Sheffield |first9=Perry |display-authors=etal |title=Rising Temperatures, Deadly Threat: Recommendations for Ahmedabad’s Government Officials |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=March 2013 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/india-heat-government-officials-IB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mavalankar2013rising, author = {Mavalankar, Dileep and Azhar, Gulrez Shah and Sarma, Amruta and Rajiva, Ajit and Thube, Nilesh and Dholakia, Hem and Hess, Jeremy and Van Tran, Kathy and Sheffield, Perry and Jaiswal, Anjali and Knowlton, Kim and Khosla, Radhika and Connolly, Meredith and Deol, Bhaskar and Casey-Lefkowitz, Susan and Gill, Grace}, title = {{Rising Temperatures, Deadly Threat: Recommendations for Ahmedabad’s Government Officials}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2013}, month = mar, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/india-heat-government-officials-IB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }