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| Image courtesy: PTI |
The study by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology reveals that Kolkata’s geography makes it the epicentre of India’s largest lightning hotspot. The study states that more than three deaths were recorded due to lightning strikes in the last two years. And the situation only seems to get worse in the coming years. Climate change is a major contributing factor to the increasing frequency of lightning strikes.
The study conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune shows that the city is one of the hotspot regions in the country which is prone to this natural phenomenon covering South Bengal and North Odisha. The other hotspot is Kerala.
The Project Director (monsoon mission) of IITM-Pune, Partha Sarathi Mukherjee informed TOI,
“Kolkata and its suburbs are increasingly becoming lightning-prone.”
In 2019-2020, a total of 529 calamity- deaths were recorded in Bengal, out of which 278, translating to 52.6% were caused by lightning strikes. In 2021, from April 1 to August 17, 226 deaths were reported from lightning alone.
Sunil Pawar, IITM-Pune scientist told TOI,
“Overall, lightning accounts for nearly a third of calamity deaths and causes damage to infrastructure worth billions of dollars. Yet it attracts little attention of policy-makers. The power sector, for instance, is the worst sufferer. Only an early warning and effective public alert system can save us”.
While talking about the seriousness of the situation and how even after generating alerts and early warnings, there are some last-mile communication challenges, Sunil Bandyopadhyay of the Indian Meteorological Department has told, TOI “Despite having multi-channel communications, somehow the last-mile gaps sometimes remained unabridged. We might need to revive the age-old method of triggering sirens to warn farmers in the field workers at under-construction against the impending thunderstorms.
The scientists have revealed that the lightning energy output in South Bengal was much more than that of Guwahati which made the strike more dangerous in the state. The lightning strikes carry the energy of about 500 Mega Joules and generate temperature up to 50,000 degrees Celsius which is 10 times hotter than the sun, said professor Anirban Guha, a lightning expert from Tripura University.
The scientists pointed out the concern during a symposium on lightning which was organised jointly by Calcutta University and Tripura University. It is important to spread awareness and bust myths around lightning to reduce fatality, said Gopa Kumar from Kerala-based Lightning Awareness and Research Center (LARC) told TOI.
Author:
Swagata Chakraborty
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