More deaths take place due to lightning than any other natural disaster, including floods, every year. So far, 33 people have lost their lives due to the natural event since this January in Karnataka.
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Hence, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has advised the district administrations to communicate to the public the dos and don’ts in the event of lightning strike as part of their monsoon preparedness.
100 a year on average
Manoj Rajan, Commissioner, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), told The Hindu that on average lightning strikes kill nearly 100 people in the State and about 2,000 across the country in an year.
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“In the last few years, there have been incessant rains accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning strikes, resulting in a spike in the number of people killed due to the natural phenomena,” he added.
In view of this, the district disaster management authorities have been issued instructions to incorporate action plans to mitigate lightning deaths, in their disaster management plans of which the core is the Information Communication Education (ICE) activities, he added.
Highest in Belagavi
A study by the KSNDMC indicated that 812 people have been killed due to lightning stikes between 2011 and 2021, with the highest deaths being reported from Belagavi where 85 people lost their lives during the study period. This was followed by Vijayapura (69), Gadag (56), Chitradurga (48), Tumakuru (48), Bidar (44), Koppal (43), Haveri (43), Yadgir (37), Dharwad (37), Ballari (35), Mysuru (32), and Bagalkot (31), to cite a few examples. Districts such as Kodagu and Ramanagara did not report a single death during the study period.
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As part of the disaster impact and risk reduction exercise, the KSNDMC has been mapping lightning stikes across all districts and has installed lightning censors or lightning monitoring stations at 11 places so as to cover the entire State.
“This enables us to monitor the development of the thunderstorm and we are able to issue warnings and advisories to the affected areas 20 minutes before the lightning strikes,” said Mr. Manoj Rajan.
Besides, the entire State has been mapped for the formation of thunderstorms and lightning based on which vulnerable areas have been identified and marked.
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Mostly in fields
“Bulk of the death takes place in rural areas where farmers tend to be in fields or in open spaces and rush to take refuge under a tree which incidentally tends to attract lightning,” said the KSDMA Commissioner.
The KSNDMC has also developed an app called Sidilu (lightning) to warn people of an impending lightning strike based on the real-time data analysis of information from the lightning stations and censors. But its use in minimising deaths will hinge on more people — especially in rural areas — downloading the app.
Millisecond event
Mr. Manoj Rajan said lightning is a millisecond event and is highly localised, hence it is not spoken about, unlike floods which cover a vast swathe of geographical area and affect more number of people.
“But we want more people to take note of lightning as a deadly killer, talk about it and be aware of the dos and don’ts so that the risk could be reduced,” he added.
With experts cautioning that the severity and frequency of thunderstorms are set to increase due to global warming and climate change, the impact could also be higher in the days ahead.