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▶ Watch the Recording: https://youtu.be/ejObayKB-YU?si=_dwgCa3sgmMUXqUX

📅 Date: Friday, September 25, 2026

🕓 Time: 04:00 PM to 05:00 PM IST (+05:30 UTC)

📘 Organised by: All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), India

💬 About the Roundtable

The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) organised a virtual roundtable on “Extreme Heat is a Slow-Onset and Unequal Urban Disaster” on Friday, September 25, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM IST.

The roundtable examined how extreme heat increasingly affected workers, women, commuters, migrants, low-income communities, and residents of informal settlements. The discussion highlighted that many impacts of extreme heat remained less visible but were serious, affecting health, livelihoods, sleep, mobility, water access, mental wellbeing, and household security.

The roundtable discussed how heat action could move beyond alerts towards approaches that were more people-centred, locally grounded, inclusive, and socially just.

📘 Launch of a Special Issue

During the roundtable, AIDMI launched a special issue of Southasiadisasters.net on “Extreme Heat is a Slow-Onset and Unequal Urban Disaster.” The issue brought together perspectives on social investment, worker protection, mental health, participatory knowledge, women workers, anticipatory action, urban heat inequality, and community heat resilience.

🎯 Key Objectives:

1. Examine extreme heat as a slow-onset and unequal urban disaster.
2. Understand its impacts on health, livelihoods, mobility, water access, mental wellbeing, and household security.
3. Explore more inclusive and people-centred approaches to urban heat preparedness and resilience.

💬 Key Discussion Areas:

1. Urban heat inequality and its disproportionate impacts on workers, women, migrants, commuters, and residents of informal settlements.
2. Worker protection, social investment, and community-centred heat resilience.
3. Participatory knowledge, anticipatory action, and locally grounded urban heat preparedness.

🎤 Speakers:

1. Ms. Melissa Ananthraj, Director, Programs, Climate Action, AVPN, Asia
2. Mr. Piyush Poddar, Lead Programmes, Martha Farrell Foundation, New Delhi, India
3. Mr. Gaurav Mehta, Group Senior Vice President, DCB Bank, New Delhi, India
4. Mr. Mihir R. Bhatt, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

📢 Practitioners, researchers, civil society organisations, community-based organisations, city stakeholders, donor agencies, and others participated in the discussion. The roundtable contributed to an ongoing dialogue on how Indian and South Asian cities could strengthen heat preparedness by connecting early warning with practical protection for populations facing high exposure and limited resources.

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