"The average air temperature in April 2024 was the highest compared to April in the period 1981-2023," Achmad Fachri Radjab, head of the climate change information centre at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), told AFP. Ardhasena Sopaheluwakan, deputy head of climatology at BMKG, also confirmed the agency's findings to AFP. Extreme heat has gripped Asia in recent weeks, from India to the Philippines, causing heatstroke, deaths and school closures. Indonesia recorded an average air temperature of 27.7 degrees Celsius in April, the highest for the month since 1981, surpassing the previous highest average April temperature of 27.6 degrees Celsius recorded in 2016, according to BMKG data. "For the cause, many factors, not only climate but also environmental factors, must have influenced" the high average temperature, Radjab added. More than 100 temperature records were broken in Vietnam in April, while heat records were also broken in Bangladesh and Myanmar. See also: Landslides and floods in Indonesia kill 15 (Portuguese version)