Practical actions against extreme heat, by setting
34 practical actions against extreme heat in workplaces, homes, schools, health facilities, markets and neighbourhoods, and what municipalities can do before summer. Each answers eight questions: what to do, who it protects, where it suits, who acts, what it takes to run, the evidence, what could stop it, and what it only works with.
Start from a question: How do I protect outdoor workers? · How do I cool homes or classrooms? · What could our municipality do before summer? · Why are our interventions failing? · What would this mean for one worker? · How do we pay for protection?
Outdoor and hot workplaces
People who cannot stop working when it is hot: builders, vendors, riders, farm, factory and sanitation workers. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version · Options, costs and traps
What workers told researchers: Stopping work means losing income · There is nowhere to recover · Safe drinking water costs too much · Home stays hot after the shift · Warnings don’t reach us in a useful way · No one local to install or fix it. People’s Courage International: Hot Cities Make Hard Work Harder, a study with workers in Delhi, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Jakarta and Quezon City
Worker cooling stations
- What to do: Rest points where workers already are, with shade or cooling, seating, drinking water, rehydration salts, a first-aid kit and a way to reach a clinic.
- Who it protects: Construction workers, vendors, drivers, porters and loaders between jobs or on breaks.
- Where it suits: Construction sites, markets, bus and taxi stands, labour chowks and community spaces with heavy foot traffic.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Employers and businesses, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Water, ice and salts every day; cleaning; power for fans; someone on site; repairs before each season.
- Evidence: The Migrants Resilience Collaborative reported that more than 27,000 workers used its cooling stations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh in one summer. These are the programme’s own figures; health and income effects have not been independently measured. People’s Courage International, 2025: emergency response to the heatwave crisis in South and Southeast Asia
- What could stop it: A station nobody can leave work to use, or one that closes when the day is hottest.
- Works only if: Employers let workers use it without losing pay; It is open when people work; Someone refills and repairs it every day.
Delivery details:
- Where: On the routes workers really use, not where land happens to be free
- Opening hours: Matched to working hours, including early mornings and evenings
- Services: Shade or cooling, safe water, seating, first aid, referral to a clinic
- Run by: A named person who checks, cleans, refills and repairs it
- Access barriers: Lost wages, permission to leave work, disability access, who feels welcome
- How you will know: Visits, days open, user views, and health or income outcomes measured properly
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): At a Bengaluru construction site, a station cooled with water-soaked khus panels drew about 100–120 workers a day in April, falling to 70–80 after the monsoon began. The Migration Story
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In 2026, People’s Courage International ran 20 cooling centres in big cities, placed near construction sites, road junctions and the labour nakas where day-wage workers look for jobs, with water, rehydration salts and phone charging. It reported more than 88,000 visits, and up to 1,841 in a day at one centre. These are the programme’s own figures. World Economic Forum and BCG, Workforce Heat Resilience: An Actionable Framework to Close the Execution Gap, 2026
Warnings that reach workers
- What to do: Route official alerts through trusted worker messengers, voice notes and picture boards at stalls and labour chowks, with one clear action in each message and a way to report back.
- Who it protects: Vendors, labourers and anyone without a smartphone, signal or the time to read.
- Where it suits: Markets, labour chowks and worker unions or associations with leaders people trust.
- Who acts: Weather and climate services, Worker organisations and unions, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: A messenger’s time every alert day, printed boards, and someone who answers when workers report a problem.
- Evidence: In Delhi in 2025, the India Meteorological Department, worker organisations and Greenpeace India set up colour-coded heat boards at vending carts and sent bilingual audio and text alerts on WhatsApp to more than 20 worker leaders, who passed them on. Greenpeace India: inside India’s first community-led early warning system for informal workers
- What could stop it: Alerts that tell people to stay indoors when they cannot, and no one listening when they report back.
- Works only if: Each message comes with an action people can take; A named messenger passes it on; Workers can report missing water, shade or help, and someone responds.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): Vendors call themselves ‘climate messengers’; workers who cannot read ask them what the board means. Mongabay India, July 2025
Safe water people do not have to buy
- What to do: Free or cheap drinking water close to where people live and work: piped connections, community water points or refill stations.
- Who it protects: Workers and families who now buy water and drink less than they need when it costs too much.
- Where it suits: Informal settlements and work areas where water has to be bought.
- Who acts: Water authorities, City and local governments, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Upkeep of pipes and points, water quality testing, and a fair way to bill or share costs.
- Evidence: In Dhaka, the city water utility worked with local NGOs to bring 3,000 water connections into informal settlements through mini-networks joined to the city system. Agence Française de Développement: improving access to drinking water in Dhaka’s informal settlements
- What could stop it: Rules that tie a connection to land title, so people in informal settlements cannot get one.
- Works only if: Connections do not require land title; Water is tested and safe; Someone local can fix a broken point fast.
Local jobs to install and keep it working
- What to do: Train and pay local people to install, run and repair cool roofs, water points, shade and green spaces.
- Who it protects: Everyone who depends on the equipment working, and the workers who gain a skill and income.
- Where it suits: Any programme that builds things that need upkeep.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups, Development banks, donors and climate funds
- Running and upkeep: Wages and training, built into the running budget from the start.
- Evidence: Community-run drinking water plants in Delhi’s low-income settlements created local jobs in running the plants and distributing water. Kumar, 2024: water security through the Tata Power DDL RO water plants
- What could stop it: Projects that train people once and then stop paying them.
- Works only if: Upkeep jobs are paid for every year; Training leads to real work.
Portable shade where there is no wall or tree
- What to do: A light shelter with a bench and shade that can be moved between work sites or fixed to a wall.
- Who it protects: Outdoor workers at sites with no shade at all.
- Where it suits: Short-term sites, roadsides and markets.
- Who acts: Employers and businesses, City and local governments, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Moving and fixing it, and repairs; someone needs to own it.
- Evidence: Bengaluru’s Neralu shelter won a 2024 design contest: about 15 kg, seats four, costs about US$175, and can be carried on an auto-rickshaw. It had not yet been tried by workers when it was shown in May 2025. AP News, June 2025, via KSAT
- What could stop it: Nobody owning it once the pilot ends.
- Works only if: Workers test the design first; Someone owns, moves and repairs it.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, a ₹5,000 grant from the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute let a fruit and vegetable seller buy a large umbrella covering him and his produce, and a way to keep drinking water on his cart, so he no longer had to leave to find water. In Kolkata, a movable plastic sheet gave shade to a utensil seller with no fixed pitch. AIDMI, southasiadisasters.net Issue 228: Small Heat Resilience Measures, Big Impact in Small Towns and on Small Businesses in India, 2026
Paid rest breaks that switch on with the alert
- What to do: Agree rest, shade and water breaks that start automatically at each alert level, with earlier or split shifts on the hottest days.
- Who it protects: Construction, farm, delivery, sanitation and street workers.
- Where it suits: Any worksite where an employer, contractor or city department sets the hours.
- Who acts: Employers and businesses, Worker organisations and unions, National governments, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: Little equipment; the cost is paid time. Someone has to check the rule is kept.
- Evidence: In Singapore, monitors at 24 workplaces found workers could face more heat stress than nearby weather stations reported, so set breaks by heat measured on site. NUS Project HeatSafe, 2024
- What could stop it: Piece-rate pay and fixed deadlines that make stopping cost money, and no inspection.
- Works only if: Breaks are paid, or paired with income protection; Heat is measured where people work; Shade and water are a few minutes away; Inspectors or unions can check.
Where it has been tried (Measured in a study): Outside Asia, at a sugar producer in Nicaragua, a rest, shade and water programme with La Isla Network raised cane-cutters’ productivity by 19% over five harvests despite shorter days, and cut hospital-treated acute kidney injury by 94%. Pay was changed so workers did not lose money by resting. Hansson et al., Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2024
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): The same programme was estimated to return about $1.60 for every $1 invested by its third year. World Economic Forum and BCG, Workforce Heat Resilience: An Actionable Framework to Close the Execution Gap, 2026
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In October 2026, the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment said it was preparing heat safety measures for delivery riders with platform operators, using heat-index levels to guide breaks and when work stops. Its 2023 labour advisory already asks employers for adjusted rest breaks, free drinking water and ventilation. Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 2026
Where it has been tried (Measured in a study): Among 287 sugarcane cutters in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, each 1 °C rise in heat stress (WBGT, measured in the fields over a whole shift) cut output by about 9 stalks an hour, from an average of 387. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2026
Shade and water on work routes
- What to do: Rest shelters with seating, drinking water and rehydration salts along the streets and yards where people work.
- Who it protects: Street vendors, delivery riders, traffic police, sanitation and construction workers.
- Where it suits: Busy junctions, markets and work yards. Misting only in dry, breezy spots.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Employers and businesses, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: A daily refill and cleaning roster, often ₹500–2,000 a day per water point, and repairs before each season.
- Evidence: Nagpur put shade nets over 10–12 busy junctions in May 2026; several tore or collapsed in strong winds, and residents pointed out the heat had begun at the end of March. The Hitavada, 11 May 2026
- What could stop it: Nobody named to refill and repair it, or it goes up after the heat has started.
- Works only if: It is in place before the hot season; A named team refills and repairs it; Workers are allowed to stop and use it; Frames are fixed firmly for storms.
Income protection when it is too hot to work
- What to do: Cash that pays out automatically when heat crosses a set threshold, so workers can afford to stop.
- Who it protects: Informal and daily-wage workers, especially women.
- Where it suits: Where workers belong to an association, cooperative or scheme that can enrol them and pay by phone.
- Who acts: Banks, insurers and financial regulators, Worker organisations and unions, National governments
- Running and upkeep: Premiums or a public subsidy every season, plus enrolment and payment systems.
- Evidence: In a survey of informal workers in Bangkok, nearly 80% had cut their hours because of heat. WIEGO and HomeNet Thailand, 2025
- What could stop it: A trigger that misses the heat people feel, so they are harmed without a payout, and slow payments.
- Works only if: The trigger counts humidity, not only temperature; Money arrives within days; Workers know they are covered.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In 2026, about 17,000 informal workers in South Asia were covered by parametric heat insurance arranged through People’s Courage International and a local partner, most with premiums paid by companies. Each payout was set at about ₹1,000–3,000, enough for 5–6 days of basic needs, with up to ₹9,000 over a year. These are the programme’s own figures. World Economic Forum and BCG, Workforce Heat Resilience: An Actionable Framework to Close the Execution Gap, 2026
Heat-illness first aid on every shift
- What to do: Train supervisors and co-workers to spot heat illness, cool a person fast and get help, with water, shade and ice at hand.
- Who it protects: Everyone on the site, especially new and older workers.
- Where it suits: Construction sites, factories, brick kilns and farms with a supervisor.
- Who acts: Employers and businesses, Worker organisations and unions, Health authorities
- Running and upkeep: A refresher before each season, and a steady supply of water and ice.
- Evidence: Doctors at two Indian hospitals with heatstroke units said more than 90% of the patients they treated for heat illness in 2024 were outdoor workers. Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), 2024
- What could stop it: Training given once and forgotten, and no transport to a clinic.
- Works only if: Someone trained is on every shift; Everyone knows the emergency number; Treatment is free at the clinic.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): Most worker heat illness strikes early: about 80% happens in the first four days on the job. Guidance is to build up new and returning workers’ hours in the heat over 7–14 days, with stricter limits during heatwaves. World Economic Forum and BCG, Workforce Heat Resilience: An Actionable Framework to Close the Execution Gap, 2026
Measure and cool hot sheds and factories
- What to do: Measure heat at the workstations, then cool the roof and walls, add air flow, water and breaks.
- Who it protects: Garment, factory, kiln and warehouse workers, many of them women.
- Where it suits: Indoor workplaces under metal roofs or beside furnaces.
- Who acts: Employers and businesses, Worker organisations and unions, National governments
- Running and upkeep: A heat meter and someone to read it daily; upkeep of roofs and fans; power for ventilation.
- Evidence: At three garment factories in Phnom Penh, workers reporting heat symptoms rose from 68% in the cooler months to 88% in the hot months, by their own reports. Chea et al., BMC Public Health, 2025
- What could stop it: Nobody measuring heat indoors, and factory owners who rent the building.
- Works only if: Heat is measured where people stand; Workers can report symptoms without risk; Fans have power when it is hottest.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): Studies summarised for apparel buyers find output falls about 2.6% for each degree of heat stress above 24 °C WBGT. Where toilets are unsafe or missing, women workers often drink less water and suffer worse heat illness, so toilets belong in the plan. FSG, Managing Heat: From Worker Welfare to Business Resilience, 2026
Homes
Where people sleep, cook and care for others, often under thin roofs that stay hot after dark. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version · Options, costs and traps
Cool roofs
- What to do: A white, solar-reflective coating on tin, asbestos or concrete roofs, so less heat reaches the room below.
- Who it protects: Families in informal and low-income homes, older people, young children and the sick.
- Where it suits: Sound roofs in hot, sunny places, where residents can stay long enough to benefit.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups, Development banks, donors and climate funds
- Running and upkeep: Recoating every few years, and a thermometer to check it works.
- Evidence: In a two-year trial in Burkina Faso, cool roofs lowered indoor temperatures by 1.2–1.7 °C and residents’ heart rates fell; a trial in about 400 Ahmedabad homes began in 2025. Reuters, via South China Morning Post, 2025
- What could stop it: Promising degrees nobody measured, renters who cannot change the roof, and no money to recoat.
- Works only if: Rooms are measured before and after; Tenants are protected from rent rises; Someone pays to recoat.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In Dhaka’s Kerail settlement, reflective paint went on 105 buildings, including a day care centre, a school and two garment factories. Indoor air at peak heat fell by 7.72 °C in one building and by 3.5 °C on average; one roof’s surface fell by 12.3 °C. Thin corrugated roofs made it hard to apply, and some local paints were not reflective enough. Sustainable Energy for All and the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, via PreventionWeb, 2021
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): In an industrial building in Indonesia, a 5,200 m² cool roof brought indoor air at noon down from 40.8 °C to 30.4 °C for about 500 shift workers. These are indoor air readings; roof-surface drops are always larger. Sustainable Energy for All and the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, via PreventionWeb, 2021
Shade the walls and let the air through
- What to do: Bamboo blinds, jute screens or awnings on the sunny side, and higher vents that let hot air out at night.
- Who it protects: Everyone indoors, especially at night.
- Where it suits: Most homes; screens are cheap and households can fit them.
- Who acts: Community and civil society groups, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: Fixing and replacing screens each season; vents need rain and mosquito screens.
- Evidence: In low-income homes measured in Dhaka, Delhi, Faisalabad and rural Maharashtra, tin-roofed houses stayed warmer indoors than outside because they cooled so slowly at night. Tasgaonkar et al., Scientific Data, 2022
- What could stop it: Openings that let in dust, rain or intruders, and screens that block all air.
- Works only if: Air can still move; Vents are secure; Someone replaces worn screens.
Fans and power people can afford
- What to do: Efficient fans, lifeline electricity tariffs and reliable supply in the hottest weeks.
- Who it protects: Low-income households without any way to cool down.
- Where it suits: Homes with a grid connection; solar where the grid is weak.
- Who acts: Utilities and energy regulators, City and local governments, National governments
- Running and upkeep: Monthly power bills, and a grid that holds in a heatwave.
- Evidence: 1.12 billion of the rural and urban poor are at high risk because they lack access to cooling. Sustainable Energy for All, 2023
- What could stop it: Power cuts at the hottest hours, and bills people cannot pay.
- Works only if: Power is reliable when it is hottest; Tariffs protect the poorest; Fans are efficient.
Cooler, cleaner kitchens
- What to do: Let heat and smoke out of the kitchen, move cooking to cooler hours, and make cleaner fuel affordable through the season.
- Who it protects: Women and girls who cook, and children near the stove.
- Where it suits: Homes cooking indoors on wood, dung, kerosene or gas.
- Who acts: Community and civil society groups, Utilities and energy regulators, National governments
- Running and upkeep: Fuel costs every month, and upkeep of vents and chimneys.
- Evidence: In Nepal’s Madhesh Province, women cooking in hot, smoky kitchens carry a daily ‘thermal labour’ that falls hardest on women in the poorest single-room homes with little access to clean energy or credit. Ghimire and others, Frontiers in Public Health, 2025
- What could stop it: Clean fuel bought once but not refilled, and kitchens with no way for air to escape.
- Works only if: Refills stay affordable all season; There is an opening for heat and smoke; Women decide how it is designed.
Check on people alone through hot nights
- What to do: Neighbours, health workers or volunteers call or visit older, ill and disabled people who live alone, day and night, during alerts.
- Who it protects: Older people, people with disabilities or long-term illness, people living alone.
- Where it suits: Any neighbourhood with a list of who lives alone.
- Who acts: Community and civil society groups, Health authorities, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: A list kept up to date, and volunteers’ or health workers’ time during alerts.
- Evidence: Data from 47,628 people in 68 countries shows hot nights shorten sleep, with bigger losses for older people and in lower-income countries. Minor et al., One Earth, 2022
- What could stop it: No list of who lives alone, and calls that stop at sunset.
- Works only if: Someone keeps the list; Calls continue after dark; Callers know when to send help.
Schools and childcare
Children in hot classrooms learn less and fall ill more easily. Most fixes are small and seasonal. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version · Options, costs and traps
Cool the hottest classrooms first
- What to do: A reflective coating or a ventilated second roof over the classrooms that get hottest.
- Who it protects: Pupils and teachers.
- Where it suits: Single-storey schools with metal or concrete roofs.
- Who acts: Schools and education authorities, City and local governments, Development banks, donors and climate funds
- Running and upkeep: A line in the school maintenance budget for recoating; anchors checked before the monsoon.
- Evidence: In the United States, each 1 °F hotter school year without air conditioning cut that year’s learning by about 1%, with the largest losses for disadvantaged students. Effects in Asian classrooms are not yet measured. Park, Goodman, Hurwitz and Smith, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2020
- What could stop it: Canopies not anchored for monsoon winds, and no budget to recoat.
- Works only if: Classroom heat is logged before and after; There is money to maintain it.
Water, and time to drink it
- What to do: Enough safe, cool drinking water for every child, with breaks in the timetable to use it.
- Who it protects: Every pupil, especially the youngest.
- Where it suits: Every school.
- Who acts: Schools and education authorities, Water authorities
- Running and upkeep: Filter changes, cleaning and a supply that lasts the hottest weeks.
- Evidence: Heatwaves disrupted schooling for an estimated 171 million students in 2024, and South Asia was the most affected region. UNICEF, 2025
- What could stop it: One tap for hundreds of children, or filters nobody changes.
- Works only if: Enough taps for the number of children; Teachers build drinking into the day.
Heat-ready timetables
- What to do: Start earlier, shorten the hottest afternoons, move exams and sports, and keep learning going if schools have to close.
- Who it protects: Pupils, teachers and parents who travel in the heat.
- Where it suits: Education departments and school boards, set before the season.
- Who acts: Schools and education authorities, National governments, Weather and climate services
- Running and upkeep: Little money; it needs agreed triggers and a plan for remote or make-up learning.
- Evidence: Bangladesh closed schools for about 33 million children in its April 2024 heatwave, and Cambodia cut the school day by two hours. NBC News, 2024
- What could stop it: Closing schools with no plan for learning, and decisions made on the day.
- Works only if: Triggers are agreed before the season; There is a plan to make up lost learning.
Shaded play space
- What to do: Trees, shade structures and less hard paving where children play and queue.
- Who it protects: Children at break times and assembly.
- Where it suits: Schools with open yards and a water source.
- Who acts: Schools and education authorities, City and local governments, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Watering through the holidays, when nobody is at school.
- Evidence: Researchers studying how age groups use green spaces found children wanted trees for shade and places to play: ask them before you design. Frantzeskaki et al., chapter 11 in Nature-Based Solutions for Cities, 2023
- What could stop it: Planting that dies in the first summer break.
- Works only if: Someone waters through the holidays; Children help choose where shade goes.
Health facilities
Clinics and hospitals fill up in a heatwave just as power, water and staff come under strain. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version
Ready to cool heatstroke patients fast
- What to do: Rapid assessment and active cooling of suspected heatstroke, with ice packs, IV fluids, rehydration salts and trained staff.
- Who it protects: Anyone with heat illness, above all outdoor workers and older people.
- Where it suits: Every hospital and health centre in heat-prone districts.
- Who acts: Health authorities, National governments
- Running and upkeep: Stocks of ice, fluids and medicines through the season, and training every year.
- Evidence: In June 2024 India’s health ministry asked central government hospitals to set up special heatwave units, and advised rapid assessment and active cooling of suspected heatstroke, with stocks of rehydration salts, IV fluids and ice packs. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India, press release, 19 June 2024
- What could stop it: Supplies that run out at the peak, and staff who have never practised the protocol.
- Works only if: Staff train before the season; Ice and fluids are stocked early; Care for heat illness is free.
Keep the power on and the building cool
- What to do: Backup or solar power, cooling in waiting and treatment areas, and cool roofs, shading and rainwater harvesting.
- Who it protects: Patients, staff, and medicines and vaccines that spoil in heat.
- Where it suits: Facilities on weak grids or under hot roofs, especially in rural areas.
- Who acts: Health authorities, Utilities and energy regulators, Development banks, donors and climate funds
- Running and upkeep: Fuel or battery upkeep, servicing of cooling, and a power company that prioritises the facility.
- Evidence: About 12% of health facilities in low- and lower-middle-income countries in South Asia have no electricity at all, and rural facilities are worse served than urban ones. WHO fact sheet: electricity in health-care facilities, 2023
- What could stop it: Backup generators with no fuel budget, and cooling nobody services.
- Works only if: The power company knows the facility comes first; Someone services the backup; There is a running budget.
Protect the staff
- What to do: Cool rest rooms, drinking water, and shorter rotations for staff in full protective gear.
- Who it protects: Nurses, doctors, community health workers and cleaners.
- Where it suits: Wards, emergency rooms and outreach teams in hot weather.
- Who acts: Health authorities, Worker organisations and unions
- Running and upkeep: Staff time for rotations, and a cooled rest space.
- Evidence: Across 3,082 health workers in India, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, poor practices with protective equipment were linked to heat-related symptoms. Yang et al., BMC Nursing, 2024
- What could stop it: Too few staff to rotate during a surge.
- Works only if: Rotas plan for the surge; Staff can report symptoms early.
A surge plan linked to the warning
- What to do: Extra beds, staff and supplies that switch on with each alert level, agreed with the weather service and the city.
- Who it protects: Everyone who falls ill in a heatwave.
- Where it suits: District and city health systems with a heat warning.
- Who acts: Health authorities, Weather and climate services, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: Planning time before the season, and overtime or reserve staff during alerts.
- Evidence: After Ahmedabad’s heat action plan prepared hospitals and warned the public, an estimated 1,190 deaths a year were avoided. Hess et al., Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2018
- What could stop it: Warnings that reach the public but not the hospital.
- Works only if: Hospitals receive the alert directly; Each level names what the hospital does.
Shade and water for people waiting outside
- What to do: Shade, seating and drinking water where patients queue, and appointment slots so fewer wait at midday.
- Who it protects: Patients and carers, especially older people, pregnant women and children.
- Where it suits: Outpatient departments, health centres and vaccination days.
- Who acts: Health authorities, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: Someone to refill water and keep the space usable.
- Evidence: India’s June 2024 advisory asked facilities in heat-prone areas to provide shade outside, and cooling in waiting areas. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India, press release, 19 June 2024
- What could stop it: Shade built where the queue isn’t.
- Works only if: It is where people actually wait; Someone refills the water.
Markets and neighbourhoods
The streets, markets, stops and public spaces where people spend the hottest hours. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version · Options, costs and traps
Shade and water in markets, designed with vendors
- What to do: Shade over stalls and aisles, and drinking water points, planned and run with the vendors’ association.
- Who it protects: Street vendors and their customers.
- Where it suits: Open and street markets.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups, Worker organisations and unions
- Running and upkeep: Storm-proof fixing, replacing worn cloth, and a refill and cleaning roster.
- Evidence: Of 721 Delhi street vendors surveyed in April and May 2024, 80% saw fewer customers during heatwaves and 49% lost income. Greenpeace India and National Hawkers Federation, 2024
- What could stop it: Beautification that pushes informal vendors out, and shade that blocks fire access.
- Works only if: Vendors have a say in design and upkeep; Nobody is evicted to make room.
Where it has been tried (Reported, not evaluated): Young women vendors in Ahmedabad, who already sell 8 to 12 and 4 to 8 to avoid the midday heat, asked for shared shade sails covering about ten sellers each, and a licensed, fixed place to sell. AIDMI, southasiadisasters.net Issue 228: Small Heat Resilience Measures, Big Impact in Small Towns and on Small Businesses in India, 2026
Cool waiting points
- What to do: Shade, a bench, drinking water and the heat alert on a board, at bus stops, ration shops and other queues.
- Who it protects: Commuters, older and disabled people, carers with children.
- Where it suits: Busy stops and queues with no shade.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Refilling the water, and keeping access clear for wheelchairs.
- Evidence: Measuring how hot people feel on summer days, researchers found shade from buildings cooled most by day, then trees, then light structures such as sails. Middel et al., 50 Grades of Shade, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- What could stop it: Counting shelters built instead of people protected.
- Works only if: It is where people actually wait; Older and disabled people can reach it.
Cooling centres people can actually use
- What to do: Cool public spaces, such as libraries, community halls or places of worship, opened during alerts, with water and somewhere to sit.
- Who it protects: People with no cool place at home, and outdoor workers on breaks.
- Where it suits: Neighbourhoods with many hot homes and a suitable public building nearby.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups, Health authorities
- Running and upkeep: Staff, power and water for every alert day, and transport for those who cannot walk there.
- Evidence: A review of the evidence and strategies for running cooling centres to prevent heat-related illness. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the GHHIN resource library
- What could stop it: A cooled building nobody can reach, open at the wrong hours, or a worker who cannot leave work to use it.
- Works only if: People can reach it, including those who can’t walk far; It opens at the right hours, evenings too; Power and water are secure; Someone staffs and funds it; Workers are free to leave work to use it.
Trees that survive
- What to do: Look after existing trees first; plant heat-hardy species where people walk and wait, with water and three years of care.
- Who it protects: Pedestrians, vendors and everyone waiting outside.
- Where it suits: Streets and open spaces with root space and a water source.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Water authorities, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Watering and care for at least three years after planting.
- Evidence: In one Berlin park more than 500 of 870 new trees died within ten years despite watering: count trees that survive, not saplings planted. Hansen et al., chapter 10 in Nature-Based Solutions for Cities, 2023
- What could stop it: No water plan, and counting saplings instead of canopy.
- Works only if: Water is secured before planting; Someone is paid to care for them; Greening doesn’t push residents out.
Where it has been tried (Simulation or test): Keep wetlands as well as trees: a model of the 2023 heatwave in Cambodia’s lower Mekong delta found wetlands cooled the air by about 2–3 °C over wet areas and beyond, so draining them adds to heat. Frontiers in Climate, 2026 (model study)
Before summer: for municipalities
The decisions a city or district makes before the first heatwave decide what happens during it. Print these cards · Open them in the interactive version
Name an owner and set aside the money
- What to do: Give heat a named lead office, and ring-fence a heat budget before the season starts.
- Who it protects: Everyone the plan covers, by making sure it can be paid for.
- Where it suits: Every city, district or state with a heat plan, or about to write one.
- Who acts: City and local governments, National governments, Development banks, donors and climate funds
- Running and upkeep: A budget line each year, and staff time in the lead office.
- Evidence: Of 37 Indian heat action plans reviewed, 11 discussed funding, and 8 of those simply asked departments to find their own money. Centre for Policy Research, 2023
- What could stop it: A plan with no money and no single owner.
- Works only if: The money is set aside before the heat; One office answers for the plan.
Set local alert levels, and who acts at each
- What to do: Set thresholds from local health records, and agree who decides, who acts, who pays and by when at each level.
- Who it protects: Everyone, by turning warnings into action.
- Where it suits: Cities and districts with a weather forecast and health data.
- Who acts: Weather and climate services, Health authorities, City and local governments
- Running and upkeep: A yearly review of thresholds and who does what.
- Evidence: Ahmedabad set its alert temperatures from the local link between daily maximum temperature and deaths; in 2023 only about 10 of 37 Indian heat plans appeared to set local thresholds. Centre for Policy Research, 2023
- What could stop it: A warning with no named person to act on it.
- Works only if: Every level has someone named to act; Warnings reach people without phones.
Map who is most exposed, with them
- What to do: Find the neighbourhoods, workers and households most at risk, by walking the area with residents and their organisations.
- Who it protects: The people a plan usually misses.
- Where it suits: Every ward or district, before choosing actions.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Community and civil society groups, Health authorities
- Running and upkeep: A few weeks of fieldwork, updated every year or two.
- Evidence: Of the 37 Indian heat action plans reviewed, only two included a vulnerability assessment. Centre for Policy Research, 2023
- What could stop it: Mapping from an office, without the people at risk.
- Works only if: Residents and workers take part; The map changes what gets built.
Where it has been tried (Measured in a study): Mapping matters because heat stress is not rising evenly: in Bangladesh the heat index rose fastest, about 0.67 °C a decade over 1981–2023, in 14 north-western districts of Rajshahi and Rangpur, where humidity rose too. Discover Hazards, 2026
Get the assets ready before the heat
- What to do: Shade, water points, cooling spaces and roof coatings installed and tested by the end of winter.
- Who it protects: Outdoor workers, people in hot homes, people waiting outside.
- Where it suits: Any city with a known hot season.
- Who acts: City and local governments, Water authorities, Community and civil society groups
- Running and upkeep: Upkeep through the season, with named teams and a budget.
- Evidence: Nagpur’s junction shade nets went up in May 2026, though residents said the heat had begun at the end of March. The Hitavada, 11 May 2026
- What could stop it: Procurement that starts when the heat does.
- Works only if: Contracts are signed in winter; Every asset has someone to keep it working.
Prepare clinics, and count heat illness
- What to do: Check clinics are ready, and record heat illness and deaths every day of the season so the plan can respond.
- Who it protects: Everyone who falls ill, and future plans that need the numbers.
- Where it suits: District health offices and hospitals.
- Who acts: Health authorities, National governments
- Running and upkeep: Daily reporting through the season, and training for doctors who certify deaths.
- Evidence: India’s surveillance logged 48,385 suspected heatstroke cases by 28 July 2024, but only 185 confirmed heatstroke deaths. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, reply in India’s Rajya Sabha, 6 August 2024
- What could stop it: Deaths recorded as heart failure, so heat stays invisible.
- Works only if: Doctors know how to record heat as a cause; Numbers are reviewed during the season.
Release money on the forecast
- What to do: Agree in advance what money is released, and for what, when the forecast crosses a threshold, before the heat peaks.
- Who it protects: People who would otherwise get help only after the damage.
- Where it suits: Cities and districts with a reliable forecast and a pre-agreed fund.
- Who acts: Weather and climate services, Development banks, donors and climate funds, National governments
- Running and upkeep: A fund topped up each year, and rules for releasing it.
- Evidence: US$800 million spent on early warning systems in developing countries could avoid US$3–16 billion in losses every year. Global Commission on Adaptation, 2019
- What could stop it: Money that needs a declared disaster before it can move.
- Works only if: Release rules are agreed in advance; Money reaches people within days.
Where it has been tried (Simulation or test): In Dhaka, the Red Cross and Red Crescent tested heatwave triggers in a 2021 simulation and gave cash grants of BDT 4,500; most recipients spent it on food, and many on medical costs. In April 2024 the Bangladesh Red Crescent activated its heatwave early action protocol for real. Anticipation Hub: the story of heatwave anticipatory action in Dhaka
What could a heat-resilient market look like?
Illustrative setting, not a survey of a specific place. These are possibilities to explore, not a guarantee of protection. What works depends on local conditions and the people using the space. Explore it as a drawing
Stall canopy: Shade where people trade and wait
- What could help: Coverings over stalls, and over the walkways between them, can keep direct sun off vendors and shoppers. The right kind depends on the space: fixed or movable, one stall or shared along a row, and how air moves underneath.
- What makes it work: Agree where it can go, and keep walkways and fire access clear. It works best when vendors help design it, nobody loses their pitch to make room, and someone is named to repair, replace and storm-proof it.
- People to involve (suggested roles): Vendors and their association; The market manager or municipal authority; Whoever installs and maintains it.
- Look closer: Shade and water in markets, designed with vendors · Shade options for markets, with rough costs
Evidence (Measured in a study): Of 721 Delhi street vendors surveyed in April and May 2024, 80% saw fewer customers during heatwaves and 49% lost income. Greenpeace India and National Hawkers Federation, 2024
Evidence (Reported, not evaluated): Young women vendors in Ahmedabad asked for shared shade sails covering about ten sellers each, and a licensed, fixed place to sell. AIDMI, southasiadisasters.net Issue 228, 2026
Drinking-water point: Water people can reach and use
- What could help: A drinking-water point close to where people trade means vendors need not leave their stall, or spend their earnings, to drink. A tap stand, a refill point or a cooler topped up through the day can all play this role.
- What makes it work: Someone has to keep it supplied, clean and tested, and fix it quickly when it breaks. It works best when it is free or cheap, reachable by people using wheelchairs, and open during trading hours.
- People to involve (suggested roles): The water utility or municipality; The market committee; A named caretaker; Vendors, who know where it is needed.
- Look closer: Safe water people do not have to buy
Evidence (Reported, not evaluated): In Dhaka, the city water utility worked with local NGOs to bring 3,000 water connections into informal settlements through mini-networks joined to the city system. Agence Française de Développement: improving access to drinking water in Dhaka’s informal settlements
Resting place: A place to pause and recover
- What could help: A shaded bench or rest point, with water nearby, gives people somewhere to cool down in the hottest hours. In a market it can serve vendors, porters and shoppers, including older people and people out with children.
- What makes it work: A rest place only helps if people can afford to use it. Vendors may need someone to mind the stall, and porters paid by the load lose money when they stop: breaks and income protection matter as much as the bench.
- People to involve (suggested roles): Market management; Vendor and worker associations; Employers of porters and loaders; Local health services.
- Look closer: Worker cooling stations · Income protection when it is too hot to work
Evidence (Reported, not evaluated): The Migrants Resilience Collaborative reported that more than 27,000 workers used its cooling stations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh in one summer. These are the programme’s own figures. People’s Courage International, 2025
Evidence (Measured in a study): In a survey of informal workers in Bangkok, nearly 80% had cut their hours because of heat. WIEGO and HomeNet Thailand, 2025
Nearby building roof: A cooler roof next door
- What could help: Vendors often store goods, eat or live in the buildings around a market. A reflective roof coating, or shade above the roof, can reduce how much heat passes into the rooms below.
- What makes it work: Check the roof type, fire safety, ventilation and who owns the building first. It is fairer when tenants do not face higher rent for the improvement; someone has to pay to recoat it, and heat also comes in through walls and windows.
- People to involve (suggested roles): Building owners and tenants; The municipality; Community groups or contractors who apply and maintain coatings; Funders.
- Look closer: Cool roofs · Roof options for homes, with rough costs
Evidence (Measured in a study): In a two-year trial in Burkina Faso, cool roofs lowered indoor temperatures by 1.2–1.7 °C and residents’ heart rates fell; a trial in about 400 Ahmedabad homes began in 2025. Reuters, via South China Morning Post, 2025
Tree: Shade that grows
- What could help: Trees can shade a market’s edges and resting places for decades. A young tree gives little shade at first, so planting now is part of a longer plan, alongside shade people can use this season.
- What makes it work: Secure water and growing space before planting, and pay someone to care for the trees. Plan who benefits: greening works best when it does not push vendors or residents out of the place it improves.
- People to involve (suggested roles): The municipality’s parks or horticulture team; The water department; Market users; Local groups who can care for trees.
- Look closer: Trees that survive
Evidence (Measured in a study): In one Berlin park more than 500 of 870 new trees died within ten years despite watering: count trees that survive, not saplings planted. Hansen et al., chapter 10 in Nature-Based Solutions for Cities, 2023
Vendor: Protection that fits a working day
- What could help: Vendors already adapt: many trade early and late and rest at midday. Support can build on that, with trading hours that allow it, a small grant for shade or water storage, and cash that arrives when heat makes trading impossible.
- What makes it work: Ask vendors first. Their hours, earnings, transport and care for children shape what they can use. Support works when money arrives quickly and vendors have a say through their associations.
- People to involve (suggested roles): Vendors and their associations; The municipality and market management; Microfinance groups or insurers; Social protection agencies.
- Look closer: Paying for protection · Income protection when it is too hot to work
Evidence (Reported, not evaluated): In Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, a ₹5,000 grant let a fruit and vegetable seller buy a large umbrella for himself and his produce, and a way to keep drinking water on his cart. AIDMI, southasiadisasters.net Issue 228, 2026
Evidence (Reported, not evaluated): Young women vendors in Ahmedabad already sell from 8 to 12 and from 4 to 8, resting through the hottest hours. AIDMI, southasiadisasters.net Issue 228, 2026
A week in the heat: an exercise
On its own page, follow one worker’s money through a heatwave week, build a package of protection, then test it: money arriving late, insurance that does not trigger, falling ill without being admitted, water or power failing, missing ID, donor money ending. A measure counts only when the person can actually use it. Open the exercise
India
- Rekha, vegetable vendor. Rekha buys vegetables at dawn and sells from a cart until dark. What does not sell by evening, she loses.
- Sunil, daily-wage construction worker. Sunil waits at the naka from 7 a.m. If a contractor picks him, he works the day. If he is not there, someone else is picked.
- Farida, home-based garment worker. Farida stitches garments at home, paid by the piece. The tin roof turns the room into an oven by noon, and it stays hot at night.
- In a survey of 721 Delhi street vendors in 2024, 80% saw fewer customers during heatwaves and 49% lost income. Greenpeace India and National Hawkers Federation, 2024
- Doctors at two Indian hospitals said more than 90% of their heat-illness patients in 2024 were outdoor workers. Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), 2024
Bangladesh
- Rahim, rickshaw puller. Rahim rents a rickshaw from a garage owner every morning. Whatever he earns, the day’s rent is owed when he returns it.
- Rickshaw pullers in Dhaka have described their earnings falling from about Tk 1,200 to Tk 700–800 a day in extreme heat, with fewer passengers and shorter hours. The Business Standard
- In a 2024 heatwave, one puller returned his rickshaw after a few hours and still owed the day’s Tk 150 rent. The Daily Star, 2024
- In April 2024 the Bangladesh Red Crescent acted on the heat forecast in Dhaka: cash grants of at least Tk 5,000 to 4,000 households, three cooling stations with more than 15,000 visits, and caps for 3,500 rickshaw and van pullers. Rockefeller Foundation case study, 2024
- Dhaka North appointed a chief heat officer in 2023, and the city has given rickshaw pullers umbrellas, water and saline, and planned shaded cooling zones. The Daily Observer, October 2024
Nepal
- Kamala, brick-kiln worker. Kamala moulds bricks in the open from first light, paid by the thousand. She took a pay advance from the labour contractor before the season; part of each day’s pay goes against it.
- A national survey found 176,373 manual workers, including family members, in Nepal’s brick kilns, which operate seasonally from October to June. Over three-quarters (75.7%) received a pay advance from a labour contractor. Central Bureau of Statistics, ILO and UNICEF, 2020
- In late May 2026, temperatures in Dhangadhi and Nepalgunj in the western Terai reached around 38 °C before noon, and heatstroke patients were arriving at Bheri Hospital every day. Kantipur, 2026
- Nepal recorded 89 days above the historical 90th-percentile temperature between May 2024 and May 2025. The Kathmandu Post, 2026
- Under the national health insurance programme, a family of up to five pays Rs 3,500 a year for treatment worth up to Rs 100,000. The Himalayan Times
- Researchers in Nepal have proposed heat stress limits for different workloads, drawing on measurements in sectors including brick kilns. Heat Standard Across Different Workloads in Nepal, 2024
Sri Lanka
- Nimal, fish seller. Nimal buys fish at the landing site at dawn and sells it from an iced box on his bicycle. In the heat, fish spoils faster: he needs more ice, and what does not sell by midday loses its value.
- In March 2024 the Department of Meteorology issued heat advisories for the Western Province and others, urging people to stay hydrated and work in the shade. News 1st, 2024
- In 2023, when fish traders at Peliyagoda raised concerns about the price of ice, the Ministry of Fisheries brought traders and ice suppliers together and agreed a lower price: Rs 650 for 50 kg instead of Rs 850. Ministry of Fisheries, 2023 (the original notice is no longer online)
- A national strategy on fish loss names the high cost of energy for fishing, ice and transport as a weakness, and aims to cut quality loss in the multi-day fishery by 30% by 2033. FAO: food loss and waste in fish value chains, Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka has provided free public health care to its whole population since 1951. ILO social protection brief
Cambodia
- Sreymom, garment worker. Sreymom sews on a factory line under a metal roof. Her monthly wage is protected; the overtime that pays for her family’s extras is not, and missing a day loses the month’s attendance bonus.
- The 2026 minimum wage for garment, footwear and travel goods workers is US$210 a month, plus a US$7 transport or housing allowance and a US$10 monthly attendance bonus. DFDL, on Prakas 214/25, 2025
- In April 2024 the Ministry of Labour asked factories to spray water on roofs, install enough fans, open windows, provide more clean drinking water and assign staff to watch workplace thermometers. CamboJA News, 2024
- At three garment factories in Phnom Penh, workers reporting heat symptoms rose from 68% in the cooler months to 88% in the hot months, by their own reports. Chea et al., BMC Public Health, 2025
- The National Social Security Fund’s health care scheme covers private-sector workers at contracted public and private facilities. UN Global Marketplace notice, 2024
Indonesia
- Budi, app-based motorbike rider. Budi carries passengers and food orders through an app. He pays for his own fuel, phone data and motorbike, and the day’s incentive depends on how many trips he completes.
- A 2023 survey of 225 app-based motorbike riders around Jakarta found an average daily income of Rp171,600. IDEAS, via Databoks, 2025
- Riders pay their own running costs; a transport ministry survey put them at Rp50,000–100,000 a day. detikOto
- In hot spells, Jakarta’s health office has advised drinking more water, covering up and limiting strenuous outdoor activity between 11 am and 3 pm. Indonesian National Police news, 2026
- The government has halved work-accident and death insurance contributions for app-based riders and other transport workers, to Rp8,400 a month, from January 2026 to March 2027. Bisnis.com, 2026
Philippines
- Joy, street food vendor. Joy sells snacks and cold drinks from a cart. When heat suspends in-person classes, her children are at home, and looking after them falls to her.
- On 5 April 2024, 5,288 schools switched from in-person classes to remote learning because of the heat, affecting more than 3.6 million students. Malay Mail (AFP), 2024
- School heads can suspend in-person classes when the heat index is high, under a 2022 Department of Education order. Manila Bulletin, 2024
- PAGASA recorded a heat index of 46 °C at NAIA in Pasay City on 24 April 2024, the highest in Metro Manila that year. PAGASA heat index (the 2024 summary is no longer online)
- The Department of Labor and Employment has reminded employers to adjust rest breaks, provide free drinking water and ventilate workplaces in the hot season. Self-employed vendors work outside these workplace measures. The Manila Times, 2024
Singapore
- Kumar, migrant construction worker. Kumar works on a building site and sleeps in a dormitory room. His basic pay is monthly; overtime is what he sends home. The law already gives him rest breaks and medical care.
- Singapore’s heat stress framework for outdoor work requires rest under shade, regular drinking water and at least a week of acclimatisation, with hourly rest breaks of at least 15 minutes for heavy work in the highest heat stress. More measures become legal requirements from 1 December 2026. Ministry of Manpower: heat stress measures for outdoor work
- The Ministry of Manpower has taken enforcement action against workplaces found not meeting the heat measures, including for inadequate shaded rest breaks. HRD Asia
- Employers must pay for medical treatment of their Work Permit holders and hold at least S$60,000 of medical insurance a year for each. Ministry of Manpower, written answer, 2025
- Standards for new dormitories, announced in 2021, cap rooms at 12 residents and require enough fans for air circulation; existing dormitories are to be upgraded over time. Ministry of Manpower, 2021
Thailand
- Malee, home-based garment worker. Malee sews garments at home, paid by the piece. Her room is also where she cooks and sleeps; in the afternoon heat, the work slows and the fan runs all day.
- In a 2025 survey of more than 1,000 informal workers in Bangkok, nearly 80% cut their working hours because of heat, and three-quarters of home-based workers lost at least one working day a month to heat-related illness, their own or a family member’s. WIEGO and HomeNet Thailand, 2025
- Thailand’s health ministry counted 61 heatstroke deaths between January and early May 2024, more than in the whole of 2023. WAM, 2024
- In April 2024 Bangkok warned that the heat index could rise above 52 °C, the ‘extremely dangerous’ level. Mothership, 2024
- Since October 2025, informal workers in the voluntary social security scheme (Section 40) receive 200 baht for an outpatient visit when a doctor orders at least a day of rest, for up to three visits a year. Pattaya Mail, 2025
Vietnam
- Lan, rice farmer. Lan farms her family’s rice field and works on neighbours’ farms for a daily wage. In the dry season, salt water creeps up the canals; drinking water has to be stored or bought.
- In early 2024 a long heatwave and drought brought salt water far inland in the Mekong Delta; about 73,900 households had limited access to fresh water. Save the Children, 2024
- In an earlier salinity crisis in Ben Tre, households bought fresh water for daily use at about ₫150,000–200,000 a cubic metre. Tuoi Tre News, 2020
- A national study estimated nearly US$3 billion a year in crop losses from saltwater intrusion. Malay Mail (AFP), 2024
- Health insurance covers about 93% of Vietnam’s population, and the state pays for cards for poor households. Vietnam News
- In Singapore, a study of 355 workers found each hot day cost a median S$21, about 24% of a day’s pay. NUS Project HeatSafe, 2024
- Of 721 Delhi street vendors surveyed in 2024, 80% saw fewer customers during heatwaves and 49% lost income. Greenpeace India and National Hawkers Federation, 2024
- In Bangkok, nearly 80% of informal workers surveyed had cut their hours because of heat. WIEGO and HomeNet Thailand, 2025
- Doctors at two Indian hospitals said more than 90% of their heat-illness patients in 2024 were outdoor workers. Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), 2024
- Heat income insurance payments for women workers in India were reported in 2025 to take six to eight weeks. NPR, July 2025
- A heat insurance pilot for construction workers paid hospital cash only after a minimum stay of 48 hours. People’s Courage International, 2025