After Dhaka’s 20 million residents experienced its hottest day in nearly 60 years on Monday, hundreds of Bangladeshi Muslims gathered in an open field to pray for rain.
According to the police, more than 500 people gathered on the Aftabnagar playing field, where Shaikh Ahmadullah, a well-known TV cleric, led the prayers.
Police said more than 500 worshippers congregated on the Aftabnagar playing ground. Credit: AFP.
“They held the requests for downpours. They also said prayers for cooler weather and protection from the heat wave, according to Abul Kalam Azad, the head of the local police.
With frequent deadly floods and ever-erratic rains, the poor, low-lying South Asian nation of 170 million people is at the forefront of climate change.
According to Afroza Sultana of the Meteorology Department, the country has been gripped by unusually hot weather since April 4. This is due to the absence of the rains that typically occur in April and May this year.
According to her, the temperature in Dhaka on Sunday reached 40.6 degrees Celsius (105.1 Fahrenheit), the highest level since April 30, 1965, when it reached 42 degrees Celsius.
Sultana predicted that rain would fall later in April, just before the country’s largest festival, Eid al Fitr, and that temperatures would gradually drop in the coming days.
