Push to plant more trees

A rickshaw puller taking a break under the shade of a tree to shelter from the afternoon heat in Dhaka. — AFP

WITH heat-related deaths mounting, the tarmac on roads melting and desperate people gathering in mosques to pray for an end to the deadly heatwave ravaging Bangladesh, the call went out from cyberspace: plant more trees.

The worst heatwave in seven decades is particularly unbearable in the capital Dhaka with temperatures reaching as high as 43°C in a crowded city that has been steadily stripped of the trees, lakes and ponds that once offered its residents relief and shelter.