Abdul Karim often feels dizzy while pulling his rickshaw under the blazing sun on Dhaka’s roads. He is over 50 years old and works more than 10 hours a day. He says his body can no longer tolerate the heat.

Even after short period of cycling, he feels a burning throughout his body. Abdul Karim, on Friday afternoon at Farmgate, Dhaka, was wearing am old punjabi soaked in sweat and clinging to his body.

Abdul Karim said, “As the days go by, the suffering keeps increasing. I have grown old, you see. I can no longer endure the heat.”

Yet he has no alternative. If he does not pull his rickshaw, he earns nothing. That reality forces people like Abdul Karim to confront severe heat risks every day.