May 28, 2015

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,400 in the past month.

But some had no choice but to venture into the heat.

“Either we have to work, putting our lives under threat, or we go without food,” farmer Narasimha said in the badly hit Nalgonda district of southern Andhra Pradesh state.

: Indian cycle rickshaw riders sleep during the heat of the day in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

: An Indian man rests under a transport vehicle on the outskirts of Hyderabad on May 25, 2015. More than 430 people have died in two Indian states from a days-long heatwave that has seen temperatures nudging 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said May 25. Officials warned the toll was almost certain to rise, with figures still being collected in some parts of the hard-hit Telangana state in the south of the country, and with no end in sight to the searing conditions. (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT:

: An Indian man fills a container with water from a tanker in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi on May 27, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said May 27, 2015, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian men sleep in the shade under a bridge in New Delhi on May 27, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said May 27, 2015, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

: An Indian youth stands under a fountain near India Gate amid soaring temperatures in New Delhi on May 27, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said May 27, 2015, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Sajjad Hussein/AFP/Getty Images)

: A mirage shimmers over Raphath leading to India Gate in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian children bathe in a tubewell on the outskirts of New Delhi on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian volunteers distribute free cold sweet water on a street in New Delhi, on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian children distribute free cold sweet water on a street in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

: An Indian child hands over a glass of cold sweet water to a bus conductor on a hot afternoon in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

: This combination of images created on May 28, 2015, shows a young Indian child as he bathes at a waterpump in an attempt to keep cool in New Delhi. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian diarrhoea patient Munawar Ali sits on a bed in a government hospital in Allahabad on May 28, 2015, as scorching weather conditions continue across India. Hospitals in India were struggling to cope with an influx of victims of a blistering heatwave that has claimed nearly 1,500 lives in just over a week. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian diarrhoea patient Nansi Bano gestures as she sit on a bed in a government hospital in Allahabad on May 28, 2015, as scorching weather conditions continue across India. Hospitals in India were struggling to cope with an influx of victims of a blistering heatwave that has claimed nearly 1,500 lives in just over a week. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian diarrhoea patient Hari Sankar Gupta lies on a bed in a government hospital in Allahabad on May 28, 2015, as scorching weather conditions continue across India. Hospitals in India were struggling to cope with an influx of victims of a blistering heatwave that has claimed nearly 1,500 lives in just over a week. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)

: Macaques monkeys cool themselves off to beat the scorching heat on May 26, 2015 at Galta ji Temple in Jaipur, India. Areas across India have been reeling under a heat wave with temperatures soaring to over 46 degree Celsius. (Vishal Bhatnagar/Zuma Press/TNS)

: Indian horseman Rahul and his horses cool off in a canal on the outskirts of Jalandhar on May 28, 2015, as scorching weather conditions continue across India. More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue. (Shammi Mehra/AFP/Getty Images)

: An Indian man washes his face at a roadside tap during rising temperatures in New Delhi on May 28, 2015. Hospitals in India battled May 28, 2015 to treat victims of a blistering heatwave that has claimed nearly 1,500 lives in just over a week — the highest number recorded in two decades. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)

: Indian fruit vendors wait for customers on a sidewalk in the shade of a tree on a hot summer day in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

: Indian devotees hold umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun during the annual festival of Sufi saint Saiwali Pir Baba at Sangral, near the India-Pakistan international border, about 38 kilometers south of Jammu, India, Thursday, May 28,2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

: An Indian farmer unloads watermelons, a summer fruit, from his boat on the bank of the river Ganges, in Allahabad, India , Thursday, May 28, 2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

: Salesboys sit in a shop selling air coolers on a hot summer day in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

: An Indian man rests on a hand cart under a market umbrella on a hot day in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

: An Indian homeless man sleeps on a pavement in a market area on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, May 27, 2015. In southern India, hundreds of people have died since the middle of April as soaring summer temperatures scorch the country, officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

: A villager herds his buffaloes as they enter the Daya River on a hot afternoon in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, India, Wednesday, May 27, 2015. In southern India, hundreds of people have died since the middle of April as soaring summer temperatures scorch the country, officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)

: An Indian snacks vendor rests on a lawn on a hot summer day in Ahmadabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2015. Eating onions, lying in the shade and splashing into rivers, Indians were doing whatever they could Thursday to stay cool during a brutal heat wave that has killed more than 1,000 in the past month. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

: An Indian passenger takes a bath beside rail tracks on a hot summer day at a railway station in Jammu, India, Monday, May 25, 2015. Severe heat wave conditions continue to prevail at several places in northern India with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

: An Indian commuter uses the train’s hose pipe to cool down on May 24, 2015 at the railway station in Allahabad, India. Most of northern India has been reeling under a heat wave with temperatures soaring to over 46 degree Celsius. (Prabhat Kumar Verma/Zuma Press/TNS)

Meteorological officials have said the heat would likely last several more days — scorching crops, killing wildlife and endangering anyone laboring outdoors. Officials warned people to stay out of the sun, cover their heads and drink plenty of water. Still, poverty forced many to work despite the risks.

“If I don’t work due to the heat, how will my family survive?” said construction worker Mahalakshmi, who earns a daily wage of about $3.10 in Nizamabad, a city about 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of the state capital of Hyderabad.

Most of the 1,412 heat-related deaths so far have occurred in Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Telangana, where temperatures have soared to 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit), according to government figures.

“The rains which have eluded us for the last couple of years have created serious drought conditions,” said state minister K.T. Rama Rao in Telangana, which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh as a separate state just last year.

“This is unprecedented … so there is a little bit of panic,” he said. “Hopefully the monsoon will be on time. Hopefully we will receive rain very, very soon.”

Among the most vulnerable were the elderly and the poor, many of whom live in slums or farm huts with no access to air conditioners or sometimes even shade-giving trees.

Those who were able avoided the outdoors, leaving many streets in normally busy cities nearly deserted.

“With so many people dying due to the heat, we are locking the children inside,” teacher Satyamurthy said in Khammam, which registered its highest temperature in 67 years on Saturday when the thermometer hit 48 degrees Celsius (more than 118 Fahrenheit).

Cooling monsoon rains were expected to arrive next week in the southern state of Kerala and gradually advance north in coming weeks.

Until then, volunteers were passing out pouches of salted buttermilk or raw onions — both thought to be hydrating. People used handkerchiefs and scarves to block searing winds and stifling air from their faces. – Associated Press

The heat is on in India

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