The word it” in paragraph 1 refers to .

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 50.
The death of a child from extreme heat highlighted the risk of climate-related illnesses across Malaysia. The same week, Vietnam declared a state of emergency after unusually high temperatures in the south dried up entire rice fields. And in the Philippines, hundreds of schools canceled classes after daily temperatures soared past 42 degrees Celsius. Extreme heat is back in Southeast Asia, one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change. And it is not going away any time soon, scientists have warned.
Home to more than 675 million people across 11 countries, the region has seen temperatures reach never-before-seen levels– with hardly any break from terrible heat and humidity, climatologist Maximiliano Herrera told CNN. Thailand has been the worst hit, Herrera said, adding that heat forecasts there have been especially severe. Temperatures across the country had been “breaking non-stop records” for 13 months – and heat and humidity levels were relentless, he said. “We thought temperatures last year were unbearable but (what we are seeing) this year has beaten that – temperatures in Bangkok won’t drop below 30 degrees Celsius, even at night for the rest of April,” Herrera told CNN. “The trend is inescapable. The region has to prepare for terrible heat for the rest of April and most of May.”
In nearby Vietnam, the heat wave brought intense droughts to the south – driving temperatures up to nearly 40 degrees Celsius and wreaking havoc on the country’s vital agriculture industry. Vietnam is one of the world’s largest rice exporters and low rainfall means trouble for farmers in its Mekong delta region. Rice fields and rivers have dried up, according to Vietnamese media reports, and farmers have been struggling without rainwater for their crops. Record heatwaves in 2023 caused severe power failures in several cities. This year, Vietnamese meteorologists have attributed the abnormally long dry period to El Niño, a natural climate pattern that originates in the Pacific Ocean along the equator and influences weather all over the world. Alongside these natural changes, the world continues to break climate records, with deadly heat waves becoming the norm.
(Adapted from edition.cnn.com)