Dubai Telegraph - Summer means suffering: how workers survive intense Gulf heat

EUR -
AED 3.879454
AFN 71.766172
ALL 98.446538
AMD 408.727287
ANG 1.903424
AOA 962.189651
ARS 1055.136057
AUD 1.630409
AWG 1.901181
AZN 1.789518
BAM 1.961728
BBD 2.132343
BDT 126.201335
BGN 1.9588
BHD 0.398064
BIF 3118.741826
BMD 1.056211
BND 1.421281
BOB 7.297188
BRL 6.105428
BSD 1.056091
BTN 89.136639
BWP 14.496666
BYN 3.456143
BYR 20701.745225
BZD 2.128773
CAD 1.480962
CDF 3026.046048
CHF 0.937129
CLF 0.037557
CLP 1036.439301
CNY 7.636301
CNH 7.645963
COP 4727.78219
CRC 539.429963
CUC 1.056211
CUP 27.989605
CVE 110.599191
CZK 25.276513
DJF 188.054673
DKK 7.458575
DOP 63.873001
DZD 141.196108
EGP 52.131744
ERN 15.843172
ETB 130.910644
FJD 2.402194
FKP 0.833686
GBP 0.831777
GEL 2.883565
GGP 0.833686
GHS 16.976135
GIP 0.833686
GMD 74.991397
GNF 9102.504493
GTQ 8.155953
GYD 220.943428
HKD 8.217753
HNL 26.666577
HRK 7.53423
HTG 138.767993
HUF 406.15981
IDR 16809.289017
ILS 3.948874
IMP 0.833686
INR 89.180057
IQD 1383.48038
IRR 44458.579959
ISK 146.095547
JEP 0.833686
JMD 167.185173
JOD 0.748958
JPY 164.521312
KES 136.515348
KGS 91.231852
KHR 4289.881246
KMF 492.563931
KPW 950.589942
KRW 1479.650439
KWD 0.32489
KYD 0.880043
KZT 523.582077
LAK 23200.543009
LBP 94573.658376
LKR 308.542304
LRD 194.845062
LSL 19.330811
LTL 3.118718
LVL 0.638891
LYD 5.158587
MAD 10.547972
MDL 19.130443
MGA 4948.044906
MKD 61.515768
MMK 3430.533723
MNT 3589.00659
MOP 8.466021
MRU 41.984863
MUR 49.842827
MVR 16.318166
MWK 1831.198548
MXN 21.74186
MYR 4.732353
MZN 67.489547
NAD 19.330811
NGN 1774.287045
NIO 38.86892
NOK 11.740652
NPR 142.624361
NZD 1.797365
OMR 0.406676
PAB 1.056111
PEN 4.024312
PGK 4.184644
PHP 62.056118
PKR 293.325825
PLN 4.325535
PYG 8247.922253
QAR 3.849933
RON 4.976236
RSD 117.044056
RUB 105.092045
RWF 1449.953783
SAR 3.967208
SBD 8.854807
SCR 14.362927
SDG 635.317643
SEK 11.596225
SGD 1.417832
SHP 0.833686
SLE 24.097471
SLL 22148.231865
SOS 603.523631
SRD 37.343937
STD 21861.445383
SVC 9.240923
SYP 2653.762908
SZL 19.339168
THB 36.814269
TJS 11.257603
TMT 3.707302
TND 3.335479
TOP 2.473748
TRY 36.27907
TTD 7.170667
TWD 34.391332
TZS 2809.522312
UAH 43.536853
UGX 3875.711004
USD 1.056211
UYU 44.865568
UZS 13525.870313
VES 47.523829
VND 26827.771874
VUV 125.395551
WST 2.94851
XAF 657.932577
XAG 0.034763
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.854464
XDR 0.795596
XOF 657.976316
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.843317
ZAR 19.268254
ZMK 9507.174232
ZMW 28.963064
ZWL 340.099669
  • SCS

    -0.0350

    13.335

    -0.26%

  • BCC

    -1.6100

    140.94

    -1.14%

  • JRI

    0.0050

    13.245

    +0.04%

  • CMSC

    0.0150

    24.625

    +0.06%

  • BCE

    0.1410

    27.351

    +0.52%

  • RIO

    -0.1650

    60.455

    -0.27%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    24.755

    +0.1%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    35.28

    +0.48%

  • BTI

    0.2050

    35.625

    +0.58%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1500

    6.96

    -2.16%

  • NGG

    0.5000

    62.62

    +0.8%

  • AZN

    0.6000

    65.89

    +0.91%

  • RBGPF

    -0.9400

    59.25

    -1.59%

  • VOD

    0.0350

    8.785

    +0.4%

  • RELX

    0.2350

    46.355

    +0.51%

  • BP

    0.3390

    28.909

    +1.17%

Summer means suffering: how workers survive intense Gulf heat
Summer means suffering: how workers survive intense Gulf heat / Photo: Karim SAHIB - AFP

Summer means suffering: how workers survive intense Gulf heat

Like millions of other migrant labourers in the Gulf, one of the world's hottest and driest regions, construction worker B. Sajay does not welcome summer.

Text size:

"We work in very high temperatures, this is the nature of our work. And yes, we suffer from severe heat," the Indian national told AFP in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Although summer has only just begun, temperatures have already topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of the desert region, which is bearing the brunt of climate change.

Summer means suffering for anyone working outside, along with risks of dehydration, heat stroke and heart failure, and Gulf countries have banned working outside in the hottest hours of the day.

"The only thing that relieves us is the period of rest... in the middle of the day," said Sajay, who has been working on building sites for six years.

Last year, a World Health Organization report found the risk of death doubling or tripling on extremely hot days in Kuwait, with a disproportionate effect on non-Kuwaiti men, who make up the bulk of outdoor workers.

Workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are ubiquitous in the oil-rich Gulf countries, providing cheap labour and filling the jobs shunned by citizens in favour of high-paying government positions.

The imported labourers typically work on construction sites or collect rubbish, sweep the roads or deliver food.

- Unbearable even in the shade -

Between June and August, the oil-producing Gulf countries -- Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman -- ban working outside for about four hours starting from noon.

Workers return to their dormitories or nestle in any shade they can find. But increasingly, it's unbearable even in the shade.

On the first day of summer on Tuesday, temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius in many places, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait which recorded in May the hottest temperature of the month worldwide, 53.2 degrees Celsius (128.8 Fahrenheit).

"The last 10 years have been the hottest seen in Kuwait," said Kuwaiti meteorologist Issa Ramadan, adding: "Summer in Kuwait now extends to September, and sometimes to parts of October."

In Muscat, workers paving a road with asphalt covered their heads with colourful scarves and hats, while others found shade under date palms in the middle of a two-way street. Passersby held umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun.

"In order to complete the eight-hour shift as early as possible, sometimes I start working from six in the morning, stop during the rest period, and then do two more hours," said Muhammad Mukarram, a Bangladeshi construction worker.

The region-wide problem has long drawn concern. Human rights groups have urged Qatar, host of this year's World Cup, to investigate workers' deaths connected to "heat distress".

There are no reliable figures on the deaths of migrant workers in Gulf countries, which do not release statistics and have regularly contested estimates released by NGOs and the media.

A recent study by the Vital Signs Partnership, a group of human rights organisations mainly from Asian countries, said that "as many as 10,000 migrant workers from south and southeast Asia die in the Gulf every year".

The March 2022 report said that more than half of the cases were recorded as "natural causes" or "cardiac arrest".

- Deadly heat -

In 2020, a study published in the journal Science Advances found that the Gulf has the hottest and most humid weather anywhere on Earth.

Scientists have calculated that even with shade and unlimited drinking water, a healthy adult will die if "wet-bulb" temperatures -- which take into account factors such as humidity, wind speed and cloud cover -- exceed 35 Celsius for six hours.

The study showed that there have only ever been 14 occasions on land when the measure exceeded 35C, all in the past two decades and eight of them in the Gulf.

Another study in the journal Nature Climate Change found that "within this century, parts of the... Gulf region could be hit with unprecedented events of deadly heat as a result of climate change".

"If we do not change course, these temperatures will keep rising over the years, reaching a level where outdoor human activities in the Gulf, such as the hajj pilgrimage, would be nearly impossible in summer," Julien Jreissati, programme director at Greenpeace MENA, told AFP.

Saudi Arabia is preparing to welcome one million pilgrims next month to perform the annual Muslim rituals.

"The only solution is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels which are the main driver of climate change and transition gradually but quickly towards renewable energy," said Jreissati.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have pledged to reach net zero domestic carbon emissions in the coming decades, while expanding oil production.

H.Yousef--DT