Intense heat has compelled 33 million children in Bangladesh to leave their schools, with temperatures exceeding 42°C (108°F) in some regions.

Schools and colleges will remain closed until at least April 27, marking the second consecutive year of such closures due to severe weather conditions.

This follows similar closures in the Philippines and India, as a relentless heatwave sweeps across Asia.

"Children in Bangladesh are among the world's poorest, and the closure of schools due to heat-related issues should serve as a wake-up call for everyone," remarked Shumon Sengupta, Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh.

The country's meteorological authorities issued their fourth heat alert for the month on Thursday.

Bangladesh, with its low-lying geography, stands as one of the nations most susceptible to the effects of the climate crisis.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rise in sea levels of 30 to 45 centimeters could displace over 35 million people from coastal districts, representing about a quarter of the country's total population.

Amid an extreme heatwave gripping the country, thousands of Bangladeshis congregated to pray for rain.

On Wednesday, thousands of Muslims gathered in mosques and rural areas to offer prayers for rain.

"Islam cleric Muhammad Abu Yusuf expressed, "Life has become unbearable due to the absence of rain... The poor are enduring tremendous suffering."

Mr. Yusuf led a morning prayer service for 1,000 people in the central part of the capital, Dhaka, on Wednesday.

Bangladesh's meteorological authorities anticipate the extreme heat to persist for at least another week.
Hospitals and clinics have been asked to prepare for a higher patient load due to heat-related illnesses such as fever and headache.

Patients suffering from heatstroke will be admitted in air-conditioned wards, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen said earlier this week.

"Leaders need to act now to urgently reduce warming temperatures, as well as factoring children – particularly those affected by poverty, inequality and discrimination - into decision making and climate finance,” Mr Sengupta said.

Unicef has warned that more than 243 million children across East Asia and the Pacific are at risk of heat-related illnesses and death.

Unusually high temperatures pose "grave risks" particularly to newborns and infants, as they are less able to regulate their body temperatures than adults, the agency said.

City officials in Thailand's capital Bangkok warned this week that the heat index would reached an "extremely dangerous" level. The index is a measure of what the temperature feels like taking into account humidity, wind speed and other factors,

Thirty people in Thailand have died of heatstroke between January and April 17 this year, compared with 37 in the whole of 2023, Thailand's health ministry said on Wednesday.

Across the border in Myanmar, temperatures surged above 45C on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, some 47,000 schools in the Philippines also suspended in-person classes due to extreme heat.

Fire incidents across the Philippines from January to March have risen by 24% compared to the same period in 2023 due to power overload and an overheating of electric fans from non-stop usage, the fire authorities said.

Countries in Asia have borne the brunt of extreme weather events in recent years.

"Many countries in the region experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms," the World Meteorological Organisation said in a new report this week.

"Climate change exacerbated the frequency and severity of such events, profoundly impacting societies, economies, and, most importantly, human lives and the environment that we live in,” said the organisation's Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

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