Video: Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan
Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan is a Seven for 7 honoree, Sustainable Energy for All's recognition for global leaders in the sustainable energy movement.
With 6.4 million people, Ahmedabad in western India is the seventh-largest urban area in India. When in May 2010 over 1,300 people died in a heatwave, the municipal council decided to act. Ahmedabad was the first city in South Asia to design and implement a heat action plan. This was done in coordination with the Indian Institute of Public Health, the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council, and other groups and NGOs.
The plan's primary objective is to alert those populations most at risk of heat-related illness that extreme heat conditions either exist or are imminent. An early warning system is being used during heat waves, accompanied by a public education campaign about how to avoid harm from excessive heat.
