Chongqing Opens Underground Cooling Shelters Amid Heatwave

Chongqing, a city known as one of China's "four furnaces," has opened 44 underground civil defense shelters as public cooling centers to provide relief from the intense summer heat. The initiative, launched on July 5 across the municipality's 11 districts, offers residents a free escape from temperatures that frequently soar above 40 degrees Celsius.

These repurposed World War II air raid shelters, originally built into the city's hillsides, have been transformed into public welfare facilities. The Chongqing National Defence Mobilisation Office began this repurposing project in 2002. The cooling centers now span over 11,000 square meters and operate daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., providing essential amenities such as desks, chairs, drinking water, and heatstroke prevention medicine.

Official statistics indicate that this public welfare project has served approximately 26.3 million visits since its inception. The opening of the cooling centers comes as the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau issued its first orange alert for high temperatures this summer, forecasting conditions to exceed 37 degrees Celsius. The bureau also warned of a prolonged period of hot and dry weather from July 7 to August 31, with average temperatures expected to be slightly above the historical norm.

Adding to the climate uncertainty, the bureau previously noted that warming sea surface temperatures in the Pacific could lead to an El Nino event, potentially impacting seasonal climate forecasts. The underground shelters offer a practical, immediate solution for residents facing increasingly severe heatwaves.