South-East Asia and India struck by worst drought in decades – in pictures
![A man walks through a dried-up Sarkhej lake on a hot summer day in Ahmedabad.](https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_H7uk0GFQDtJJBJ-mI6iXBqNedEgy_rqnucS--qzsVTQ.jpg)
Almost a quarter of India's population is now affected by drought, says the government
Image: REUTERS/Pring Samrang
Stay up to date:
India
With temperatures regularly reaching the mid-forties (celsius), South-East Asia and India are currently suffering from one of their worst heat waves in history.
Soaring temperatures have claimed the lives of more than 150 people. Lakes are drying up, causing the large-scale deaths of freshwater fish. Top rice exporter Vietnam has been hit by its worst drought in a century, destroying paddy fields and crop production.
In India, about 330 million people (almost a quarter of the country's population) are now affected by drought, the government estimates. Schools have been closed and outdoor working has stopped.
The United Nations has attributed the heat wave and drought to El Niño. The weather pattern is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, which can trigger extreme weather in some regions. The current El Niño has been one of the strongest ever.
![A girl carries a metal pitcher filled with water through a field in Latur](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/pTvjlhamZE20anI2MOx-jKm0nosBWXjP6BCPV__BN_U.jpg)
![Boys cool off under a water fountain on a hot summer evening in New Delhi](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/_pHjYnEnmtz1mb9hFU9zojj4rbFk-rKUaJWQHn6HhdE.jpg)
![Residents hold plastic hoses as they fetch water from a government-run water tanker in Masurdi village, in Latur.](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/Tn94us2q35quqqdbu_ZBGCKz-SNn5rsElP4BMBYcaRw.jpg)
![Children play in mud to cool off on a hot day in New Delhi, India](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/EpWuj-TS0THH4G92H3o8X9WX1CwFH3bgjK6fyU89C4A.jpg)
![A woman bathes at a roadside municipal tap in a slum area on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Kolkata](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/ImN079m9Oz7ei7f4eJdRvNAT4sPhgSG8o2_GshGcdkI.jpg)
![A man walks through a dried-up Sarkhej lake on a hot summer day in Ahmedabad.](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/-pJBGMhP4aamQuGJPzTBZx5sXs8AOxblwm_tkPZewdw.jpg)
![A man covers his face as he pushes a bicycle through a dust storm on the banks of the Ganga river in Allahabad, India](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/Cjet3opNKeuRNpWR0H_VJifp1KXd9lQBSbxllFXKR04.jpg)
![A farmer burns his dried-up rice on a paddy field stricken by drought in Soc Trang province in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam March 30, 2016.](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/XU_1E4oZOL8sD_pFqDhbxFgNuJNry44yjXZETxJeSqU.jpg)
![A woman and her son search for fish in the pools created by a drought irrigation system in Soc Trang province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam March 30, 2016.](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/FNuaB39zxEaca6Zh9yE19PttMh3NmnqoJgrSWOl9Fgo.jpg)
![A man works at a dried up pond at the drought-hit Kandal province, Cambodia, April 26, 2016.](https://assets.weforum.org/editor/83w74u-egwHfHzS--eR7mTrX_rHfh3whUNudxSFb7CE.jpg)
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
Forum Stories newsletter
Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.
More on Geographies in DepthSee all
Chris Hamill-Stewart
February 14, 2025
Anderson Tanoto
February 10, 2025
John Letzing
January 27, 2025
Kaiser Kuo
January 25, 2025
Elizabeth Mills
January 25, 2025
Pooja Chhabria
January 24, 2025