BHUBANESWAR: Lightning has of late emerged as one of most catastrophic disasters in the country, killing thousands of people across the country. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), lightning strikes, on an average, claim nearly 2,500 human lives annually in India.
The natural disaster inflicts burn injuries, muscle spasms, multi-system dysfunction, cardiac arrest, and causes instant death. What is more shocking is that the majority of victims, approximately 96 per cent, are from rural areas and belong to poor financial backgrounds. They include farmers, cattle grazers, fishermen, jungle hunters, and laborers working outdoors.
Various studies indicate that lightning strikes will increase by about 12 percent for every degree rise in the global average air temperature.
Odisha, as per the last annual lightning report, records the highest number of lightning strikes in the country. The state is specifically vulnerable to frequent lightning strikes due to a complex combination of climatic factors such as cyclonic activities, pre monsoon and monsoon periods and prevalence of high convective energy in the atmosphere.
However, the recent years have seen decline in the casualty rates due to the state government’s proactive measures like putting in early-warning systems and ensuring effective dissemination of weather forecasts to vulnerable sections of people.
“The state has successfully reduced lightning-related casualties from 207 in 2019-20 to 156 in 2020-2021. The state on April 1, 2015 declared lightning a ‘state-specific disaster.’ Now, Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia is being provided to the families of the deceased,’ Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lawmaker Manas Ranjan Mangaraj said in Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament.
The BJD leader urged the Centre to declare lightning as a natural disaster and actively implement mitigation measures.
In Odisha, the state government directed forest and agriculture departments to undertake large-scale palm tree plantations as a preventive measure.
“Countries like Thailand and Bangladesh have successfully employed large-scale palm tree plantations to mitigate lightning deaths. We urge the Union government to declare lightning as a natural disaster. This declaration would enhance ex-gratia support for affected families, offering much-needed relief to thousands of Indians annually. This urgent step must be taken to address the high mortality rate associated with lightning strikes,” Mangaraj said in the Rajya Sabha.
