BWhen Jalaj Jha starts getting ready for work every morning, he already feels exhausted. Waking up in a cramped room in Delhi with no ventilation save for a rattling fan blowing hot air, the 24-year-old gig worker prepares for a 12-hour shift delivering groceries.
“I can’t sleep for more than three or four hours in this heat,” Jha said while wiping the dust off the motorcycle he uses for deliveries. “When I wake up in the morning, I’m exhausted. My body feels like it’s dragging me down.”
It’s only 7am, but the temperature is already in the 30s (86F), the lowest temperature of the day. Daytime temperatures can exceed 45 degrees (113 degrees). This week, Delhi recorded its hottest May day in two years and the hottest May night in 14 years.
Rising temperatures are turning cities in South and Southeast Asia into places where workers cannot recover from the heat. A new report by US-based People’s Courage International (PCI), which conducted research in Delhi, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Jakarta and Quezon City, finds that increasing night heat, combined with the urban heat island effect (heat trapped in densely packed cities), is leaving millions of informal workers exhausted before a new workday begins.
Sleep itself is becoming difficult for delivery workers, construction workers and street vendors living in cramped villages with little ventilation and unreliable electricity. Unable to rest or cool down, heatstroke worsens, productivity declines, and already vulnerable workers are forced into even greater financial stress.
Experts warn that cities in the region remain unprepared for a worsening heat wave. Photo: Men use cloth to protect themselves from the heat at Delhi’s Red Fort in late April. Photo: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
South Asia’s crisis is worsening as climate change is predicted to triple the likelihood of last month’s deadly 15-day pre-monsoon heatwave. Scientists say nighttime temperatures are rising faster than daytime temperatures in many parts of the region, reducing the time people once relied on to recover from extreme heat.
The International Labor Organization estimates that across Asia, more than 70% of workers are exposed to excessive heat at some point during their workday, with informal workers being the most vulnerable. This has major implications for countries like India, where nearly 90% of workers are employed in the informal economy.
Loss of wages, dizziness, fatigue
Experts warn that cities in the region remain unprepared for a worsening heatwave. Some governments, including Delhi’s, have introduced heat plans and advisories, water points, early warning warnings and instructions to reschedule outdoor work during peak afternoon heat. But researchers say most responses remain reactive and fail to directly address the needs of workers living and working in extreme heat.
The PCI report, based on interviews with more than 2,200 domestic migrant workers in five cities, found that nearly eight out of 10 said the intense heat was disrupting their livelihoods and families. Workers reported losing wages because they were unable to work a full shift, spending more on water, medicine and transportation, and suffering headaches, dizziness and fatigue from working long hours outdoors.
“The effects of heat are silent and generally creep up on workers,” says PCI researcher Amina Kidwai. Kidwai said workers are reporting impacts across their lives, including at home, at work, commuting, and on their mental health and sense of community.
Lack of sleep due to the heat leads to mental fatigue. Photo: Rajat Gupta/EPA
Ajay Kumar, 32, a roadside vegetable vendor in Gurugram on the outskirts of Delhi, spends hours every day pulling a three-wheeled rickshaw loaded with vegetables through traffic jams after buying produce at a wholesale market 7 kilometers away.
“Every day I feel dizzy from the heat. But I have no choice but to work for my family,” said Kumar, who has four children.
Researchers describe this increased fatigue as “underrecovery,” meaning workers begin each day already physically exhausted. According to them, sleep deprivation not only reduces productivity and worsens health conditions, but also causes anxiety and mental fatigue.
Kumar, who migrated from a village in Bihar state four years ago in search of work, lives with his wife and children in a small room with no ventilation other than a rusty fan. He said he wanted to buy a cooler this summer but couldn’t afford it.
“My daily income is barely 300-400 rupiah ($3-4). Most of it goes to supporting my family,” he said. “I carry water with me to keep myself moist. Gamcha (scarf). It helps my head. ”
At night, Kumar’s family often sleeps on the building’s open terrace, as the rooms become unbearably hot.
“It still takes hours to fall asleep.”
