Among all the deaths caused by the forces of nature in the country, the highest are attributed to lightning, and Bihar and Uttar Pradesh witnessed the most fatalities due to lightning among other states in 2019 and 2020, official data shows.
As per the Annual Lightning Reports analyzed by CNN-News18, all the states have reported a drop in deaths due to lightning between 2019 and 2020, barring Bihar. Bihar reported more than an 81 percent jump in such deaths from 221 deaths reported during April 2019 and March 2020 to 401 during April 2020 and March 21.
So far, India has released two Annual Lightning Reports — 2019-20 and 2020-21, prepared by Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC), a non-profit organization, that works closely with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to provide early lightning forecasts
Uttar Pradesh stood first in terms of deaths in 2019-20 with 293 fatalities. However, the deaths due to lightning in Uttar Pradesh have dropped by nearly 20 percent to 238 in 2020-21. Uttar Pradesh was second among all the states in terms of fatalities due to lightning.
Further analysis of the deaths shows that Madhya Pradesh, which was in the second position in 2019-20 with 248 deaths, slipped to the third spot in 2020-21 as it recorded 228 deaths. States including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Jharkhand have also reported a drop in such deaths over the years.
A significant drop in deaths due to lightning across India
As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data analyzed by CNN-News18, between 2001 and 2019, more than 45,300 people were killed due to lightning strikes across India. Further, 26,924 people were killed between 2010 and 2019, the NCRB data shows.
However, in 2019, the lightning deaths in India have dropped below 2,000 for the first time since 2009. Barring 2012 and 2018, deaths due to lightning in India were more than 2,500 each year.
Overall deaths due to lightning in India have dropped by 40 percent since 2018-19, the report shows, which also claims that India is aiming to bring the deaths further down to 1,200 by 2022 through technological advancement, including timely and more accurate weather predictions. In the last few years, there has been phenomenal improvement in the country’s early warning system. IMD issues forecast medium range for 3-5 days, short-range 1-3 days, and nowcast 2-3 hours.
More lightning strikes, fewer deaths
India has recorded 1.85 crore lightning strikes between April 2020 and March 2021, as per the Annual Lightning Report, an increase of 34 percent from the previous year. In 2019-20, the total lightning events were 1.38 crore. Even as the incidents increased, the deaths have dropped.
Among the states, Punjab reported the highest increase in lightning events — 331 percent – followed by Bihar (168 percent), Haryana (164 percent), Puducherry (117 percent), and Himachal Pradesh (105 percent).
In 2020-21, Odisha reported most lightning events 20.43 lakh strikes, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 17.10 lakh strikes. Despite being top two in terms of lightning events, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh stood at fourth and third in terms of fatalities, respectively.
Bihar, which ranked ninth in terms of lightning events with 11.54 lakh strikes, has reported the most fatalities. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh stood at sixth rank in terms of lightning strikes but is second in terms of total deaths in 2020-21.
On Sunday, at least 70 people were killed and 20 others were injured as lightning strikes were reported across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Last month, nearly 30 people were killed after lightning strikes in several districts of West Bengal.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.
Comments
0 comment