Abstract:
Planet earth is likely to experience unprecedented extreme weather events with significant
increase in magnitude and length owing to climate change. Worst of these is the heatwaves
which have claimed millions of lives worldwide. This rise in temperature will exceed habitable
level especially in South Asia by the end of this Century. Studies suggest the urbanites will be
affected more by the heatwaves as compared to rural residents. This study aims to understand
the heatwave vulnerability of the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi at micro level by use of
the concept of local climate zones. Four different climate zones were selected and a total of 500
interviews were conducted in the case study areas. Heatwave risk perception of the residents of
the case study areas was also studied. In addition to that adaptive strategies and Coping
capacities of subject population was also discussed. It was found out that people living in compact
low-rise development was most vulnerable of all. The residents of open low rise were least
vulnerable due to their high capacity towards heatwaves. Risk perception of all the case study
area were almost similar.
