Lightning killed 850 people in 10 years

According to the District Police Office Dailekh, he died on the way while being taken to Surkhet for treatment. Earlier, one person died and seven others were injured due to lightning in Bajhang. According to Ward President Narendra Bahadur Singh, the damage was done to one family in Jaiprithvi Municipality-6 Nowra at around 9:30 PM on Friday 9th Chait.

Three days before the Bajhang incident, a police assistant constable Pandav Kumar Majhi also died in Panchthar due to lightning. According to Police Inspector Sumit Kushwaha, Information Officer of District Police Office Panchthar, Majhi, who was standing at the door of the police station at 11 o'clock on the night of Chait 7, was struck by lightning. He was declared brought dead around 12 midnight after being taken to the nearby Primary Health Center Gopetar for treatment.

The records of the Nepal Police show that an average of 87 people die prematurely due to lightning strikes every year. Due to climate change, lightning and its damage and risk are also increasing . The government is limited to social media instead of risk reduction and preparedness from village to village. According to the data of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, in the last 10 years, there have been 2,380 lightning strikes across the country and 866 people died, 2,575 were injured, 3,275 families were affected and 3,245 were affected. Animal quadrupeds have been damaged.

In a decade from 2070/071 to last year, there has been loss of property and livestock worth 852 million 59 thousand. Until March 19 of the current financial year, 16 people have died due to lightning across the country. These data are only recorded on the basis of lightning damage and reporting to the police.

According to Sriram Sharma, a lightning expert, lightning is a natural disaster caused by electric current flowing between the clouds and the earth or between the clouds and the clouds. As a natural disaster, lightning is interrelated with climate change . According to the latest 'Global Climate Risk Index 2021' report released by the German organization 'Germanwatch', which works in the environmental sector, Nepal is at the 10th place in the world for the risk of climate change. According to experts, lightning cannot be prevented, damage can be reduced. Lightning expert Sharma says that the government has not taken concrete steps in this regard. "For every degree of temperature increase, the rate of lightning increases by 10 to 12 percent," he says, "There is no concrete initiative of the state in lightning reduction and preparedness." He said that due to climate change, lightning will decrease for a year or two and then increase again.

Thunderstorms due to the influence of local winds

Senior Divisional Meteorologist Information Officer of the Water and Meteorology Department Vibhuti Pokharel says that thunderstorms occur in Nepal due to the influence of local winds and western winds. "During Chait/Vaisakh, there is more steam due to the local air, it heats up very quickly, clouds form quickly, thunder forms in the clouds, lightning occurs, comes along with the wind, there is hail together and it rains at the same time," said Pokharel, "West wind, sometimes the Bay of Bengal. , the air of the Arabian Sea also causes lightning in Nepal.'

According to lightning expert Sharma, lightning usually occurs from pre-monsoon to the onset of monsoon. Chait means from March to June. May and June have a lot of lightning . After the onset of monsoon, the rate of lightning decreases . Again in August and September and in winter in Karnali some impact is also found . Looking at the data since 2010, he said that lightning is moving in Nepal. The order of lightning in hilly and plain areas is also different . Looking at the data from 2015 to 2020, lightning starts from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the hills and from 6:00 pm to 12:00 pm in Terai.

Many people think that lightning that comes directly from above will cause damage . Since lightning itself has current flowing from the ground, even if it falls at a distance of 500 meters, it will be damaged . Last October 30, around 1 pm, 18 sheep and goats were killed in Dilepakkhakark of Marsyangdi rural municipality-5 of Lamjung when lightning struck with rain. A pregnant buffalo that was tied up in a shed near Khaje Chautara, the border area of ​​Sanjapu and Badalbisauna, died when it ran away from the sound of lightning. Dhanraj Ghale, the shepherd, fainted. "The death rate will increase when the lightning current flows on the surface of the ground, 40 percent of deaths are due to the current flowing from the surface of the ground," said Sharma, a lightning expert, "The rate of death of a person due to a direct lightning strike is 5 percent." . The roaring sound of lightning causes other effects such as tearing of the eardrums, blindness, paralysis, and fear of people as soon as they see a flash. What the general public is not aware of.

Lightning is slowly moving towards the city. It decreased a bit between 2077/78 and 2078/79 and started to increase again from last year . The highest number of deaths due to lightning in a decade was 117 in 2071/72, 107 in 2070/71 and 113 in 2073/74. Even though the death rate is not above 100 after this, the order of death is still there . While working in the fields, while cutting grass, grazing cattle, the incident of lightning is heard . In recent years, with the increase in internal migration towards markets and cities, lightning damage has started to shift towards cities . "Because people have migrated to urban centers, less damage may have been seen in villages," lightning expert Sharma said. ; But wherever there is lightning . If there is a dense population in the city and if there is lightning, the electrical equipment used, the fire will be caused by the electric wire, the settlement itself will be at risk . "The city is a bit safer than the village," said Sharma, "but no matter how many electrical devices we use while living in the city, if there is no technology to protect against lightning, the risk of fire and settlements will increase from electrical wires and devices." break Earthing should be done at home to prevent damage from lightning in the village or city. It prevents the lightning current from connecting with the house's current and reduces the damage caused by the current flow . However, the authority under the Ministry of Home Affairs that works in disaster risk reduction and management does not have the exact data of how many houses have been earthed or not.

Even though the government agencies aware that the disparity in the weather due to climate change will increase the disaster, there will be studies and some preparations for earthquake, flood mitigation and prevention, but even these targeted studies have not been done due to the damage of lightning. "As many new houses are being built, they are being monitored by the local level to ensure that they comply with the standards of urban development to make them safe from lightning," says Gomadevi Chemjong, deputy secretary and spokesperson and information officer of the authority, "but how many houses are safe and how many are not?" No, we have to work extensively in terms of lightning. According to experts on lightning, although they are working on public awareness activities, capacity building, and publicity, she said that investments and studies have not been done as expected.

The executive head of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, Anil Pokharel, says that while international studies are warning that climate change will cause more lightning and damage will increase, extensive work is being done to prevent lightning. He said that while expanding the program plans for lightning damage reduction and preparedness, the early warning system is working on the flow so that it is close to 'real time'. So far, the authority has only been doing the work of spreading awareness materials through social media and providing assistance in reconstruction relief in case of financial loss caused by lightning, such as earthquake and flood damage.

Senior Divisional Meteorologist of Water and Meteorology Department Pokhrel says that forecasting becomes difficult as climate change brings heterogeneity in the local air. "The spread of lightning is very fast, it spreads all over the country within one to two hours, how much caution can be taken during one to two hours," she said. It is difficult to predict exactly.'' She said that although the department is providing the information it has to the disaster authority and giving advance information through all kinds of media, more work should be done to reduce and adapt to the increasing lightning incidents and damages.

Taking precautions can reduce the damage caused by lightning . As soon as there is lightning in the sky, you should go to a safe place (indoors or indoors). Don't sit under trees or electric poles and don't wear umbrellas . Swimming, boating, and working in the fields should not be done during lightning . If you are struck by lightning without finding a safe place, you should bend down with both hands above your head and sit with your heels together, but do not fall on the ground. Wired phones should not be used even inside the house. Electronic devices like TV computers should not be used, instead the plug should be removed. Bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, touching windows, doors and balcony grills should not be done inside the bathroom .