While Roberto De Jesus struggles to find a job in the scorching sun, Wendy Tijerina struggles to save her food. The heat wave that has already killed eight people in Mexico is disrupting the lives of millions of people in the country.
The 50-year-old mason is stationed near the cathedral in Mexico City’s historic center, where the temperature this week reached a record 35°C. It is noon and the asphalt is hot, just like the stone of the buildings of this overcrowded capital of 26 million inhabitants, including the outskirts, where the crush and the pollution linked to the traffic make the air even more stifling.
The country is facing its third heat wave since the beginning of the year. Since mid-April, it has killed eight people, the government announced on Friday. Of the eight victims, seven succumbed to heat stroke and one to dehydration. The heat wave could last another two weeks.
The heat “is really heavy”, notes Roberto De Jesus, canvas hat on his head. “Sometimes we are very dehydrated,” adds the man who stays up between eight and nine hours a day waiting for possible customers. The hardest part is when he has to work, in these high temperatures, outside. “We are really suffocating”.
Among the other consequences of the heat wave, the risk of proliferation of bacteria in the food offered in the streets, a very popular activity in the country. Roberto De Jesus recently experienced this. “I was overcome with nausea,” he says. “These are tacos that I ate in the street (…) That’s what made me sick,” he says.
“The heat is awful,” complains Javier Ramos, 30, a taco vendor at a street stall in the center of the capital, saying he follows a protocol of keeping only the meat needed for the day and store it in coolers separate from those storing the vegetables.
“We are seeing the consequences of climate change,” sighs Natividad Flores, a seller of handmade clothes from the center of the capital, a wide-brimmed hat on her head and sunscreen on her face and arms.
In the rest of the country, the situation is also complicated and in particular in Monterrey (north-east) with more than 40°C.
“We lack water, we can’t bathe the children or even use a fan because they cut the power,” complains Wendy Tijerina, a resident of Apodaca, on the outskirts of the city. “We are trying to get a cooler to keep medicines that need to be refrigerated and those that are a bit delicate,” she explains.
A historic drought hit Monterrey in 2022 resulting in a significant reduction in water pressure in homes and power outages due to high demand for electricity from increased use of air conditioners.
The government of the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located, has arranged for children to attend semi-face-to-face classes and attend school for only two hours a day to avoid exposure to heat wave.
In the state of Chiapas (south), a colonial church which had been submerged by the waters of a reservoir was recently brought to light due to the drying up of the reservoir.
This is a 16th century Dominican church located in Nuevo Quechula. About five months ago, “the water started to go down, too much,” said Darinel Gutiérrez, a local fisherman. “How do I support my family?” he wonders now.
06/18/2023 05:32:40 – Mexico (AFP) – © 2023 AFP