India Faces Slow‑Onset Urban Heat Disaster, Calls for Heat Justice

India’s latest Southasiadisasters. net issue frames extreme heat as a slow‑onset, unequal urban disaster that increasingly threatens workers, small businesses and low‑income communities. The report notes that heat is no longer a seasonal weather concern but a quiet, building crisis that damages health, livelihoods, productivity, water access, sleep, mental wellbeing, mobility, housing and local economies. AIDMI’s Mihir R. Bhatt urges that “heat justice must begin where heat risk is highest—workers, women, children, commuters, migrants and low‑income communities.” The issue compiles field evidence, policy reflections and community voices, offering lessons on heat action, social investment, worker protection, anticipatory action, citizen‑led monitoring and community resilience. Contributors include AIDMI, AVPN, Harvard Law School, ADRA India and others, highlighting the need for participatory, people‑centred resilience strategies.