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UV protection umbrellas, fans and ice packs: How S'poreans living overseas are coping with the heatwaves

SINGAPORE — When temperatures in Japan hit 35°C and above earlier this month, Ms Charissa Tan could only manage a 10-minute walk to the train station before she felt giddy. 
A pedestrian walking with an umbrella to shield from the sun in the midst of a heatwave in Tokyo's Shinjuku district in June 2022.
A pedestrian walking with an umbrella to shield from the sun in the midst of a heatwave in Tokyo's Shinjuku district in June 2022.
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  • Countries across the world are suffering from one of the hottest summers in history
  • Some countries such as China, France and the United Kingdom have issued warnings to their citizens to avoid staying outdoors
  • TODAY spoke to Singaporeans living in some of these countries on how they are coping with the heat
  • Their strategies include staying indoors with the windows closed, wrapping ice packs in towels while outside and leaving their air-conditioners on all day 

SINGAPORE — When temperatures in Japan hit 35°C and above earlier this month, Ms Charissa Tan could only manage a 10-minute walk to the train station before she felt giddy. 

The 37-year-old later fainted from heatstroke as she was alighting from her train ride and was taken to the hospital, where she was discharged after a few hours. 

In Tokyo, where Ms Tan has been working for the last eight years, temperatures soared above 35°C for nine days straight from June 25. After weeks of extreme heat, Japan's capital finally saw a few days of rain this week.

Ms Tan is just one of many people around the world struggling with extreme weather conditions, as several countries have been plagued by heatwaves over the last few weeks.

Countries that are badly affected such as China, France and the United Kingdom have issued warnings to their citizens to avoid staying outdoors.  

After her heatstroke scare, Ms Tan, who works in marketing research, said that she now always leaves the house with an anti-UV umbrella, a big bottle of an isotonic drink, a handheld fan, and an ice pack that she wraps in a towel around her neck. 

“The weather here is not the kind that you can tahan (Malay word for bear), the heat is more of a skin-piercing kind of pain,” Ms Tan said. She added that whenever she steps out of the house, it feels like her body is in an oven. 

Although she has an air-conditioner in the house, she has had to keep the temperature to 27°C due to a power crunch warning by the Japanese government.  

Similarly, 33-year-old Charlotte Isa always ensures that she has ice packs on hand and has opted to drive more instead of cycling. 

“In June, it was so hot that many of the plants on my balcony got burnt by the heat. They just dried out and turned crispy,” she said.

The mother of two, who works as a medical device representative in Tokyo and has been in Japan for four years, added that the change in weather the past week has caused her family to fall sick because their “bodies weren’t able to adapt properly”.

Over in England, Ms Goh Siew Lian, a 75-year-old retiree living in Brighton, described shopping and taking public transport in the current weather as "dreadful". 

“There’re very few places with air-conditioning. The UK is not prepared for such hot weather,” Ms Goh told TODAY over a video call while having ice cream at fast-food chain McDonald's. 

For the first time in the UK, temperature forecasts have hit 40°C — an all-time high. 

Despite the government there urging citizens to stay indoors due to the extreme weather, Ms Goh said that she still sees “millions of people on the beach” from her apartment overlooking the ocean. 

Ms Serene Allen, a 44-year-old social media professional, told TODAY that she is prepared for the heat as she had bought a number of fans when she and her husband moved into her father-in-law’s detached house at East Drayton in 2018. 

What she said many people are not aware of were horseflies, which multiply rapidly during hot weather and cause painful bites that take some time to heal. 

She has been bitten numerous times in the past few weeks. 

Despite the heat, both Ms Goh and Ms Allen agreed that the British dry summer heat is still more bearable than Singapore’s humid weather. 

Over in France, Mr Khairul Shah, is adjusting to the sudden change in temperature.

When he first moved to Paris three months ago after marrying his French wife, the weather was a cool 12°C to 18°C.  

“But as the days went by, it got warmer and without realising it, I started drinking three to four big bottles of sweet drinks every day. This isn’t normal for me,” the 29-year-old told TODAY on Tuesday, when the temperature in Paris hit 41°C. 

Although the apartment where they live has a fan, Mr Khairul said that they do not open the windows fully because the hot air will enter and make the house warmer.

Not working at the moment, Mr Khairul said that he is not taking any special precautions against the heat apart from wearing light clothing and drinking more water. 

Closer to home, Mr Alywin Chew, a 39-year-old media professional who works from his home in Shanghai, China, has been running his air-conditioner the whole day for the past week. 

Then, to his horror, the air-conditioner in his bedroom broke down twice within a span of two weeks.

Each time, he ended up sleeping in the living room, which also has an air-conditioner, because it was simply too hot and he does not have a fan in his apartment. 

Shanghai suffered its hottest day since records began in 1873 on July 13, with the mercury topping 40.9°C. 

Searing summer heatwaves continue to plague China with temperatures from 39°C to 42°C expected in the southern region after Wednesday, including the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, the China Meteorological Administration said on July 17.  

Although Mr Chew, who has lived in Shanghai for the last eight years, said that the humid Shanghai summers are “typically more unbearable” than Singapore’s weather, the heatwave made it exceptionally bad this year. 

“It was to the point where you can’t really breathe, especially when you have a mask on." 

Related topics

heatwave Europe Japan United Kingdom France China Weather

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