By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In what can be termed as a worrisome situation, the number of deaths caused by lightning in the North East is more than 30 per cent of its toll in the country while the damage caused to farmers is a matter of grave concern.
This was revealed during a one-day workshop-cum-interaction meeting on lightning resilient India campaign and Agromet Advisory services in NER organised at the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) here on Saturday.
The meeting discussed ways to make cities and villages safe from lightning and how the damage can be minimised.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department, KJ Ramesh, said that the department is now giving 24-hour advance warning on lighting.
Lamenting that the people have not been able to take enough care to protect themselves from lightning, he added that the campaign is a necessary initiative. “We want that by March next year, every citizen in the North East should be aware of personal safeguards and the fact that they need to protect themselves and their houses from lightning,” he said.
Informing that 65 per cent of the farmers are also getting affected due to lightning, he added that colleges, schools and students are a strong means of taking the content of the campaign to the last mile.
Stressing on the need to identify the hotspots of lightning, he added that the administration must also be quick in disseminating information about the lightning warnings.
During the meeting, different agencies also gave presentations on how to minimise the damage arising out of lightning and what precautions should be taken by the people.
NEHU vice chancellor SK Srivastava said that academic institutions can carry forward the message about the campaign while suggesting that sheds can be constructed in farms for the farmers to take shelter during lightning activity.
Earlier during the presentations made by different agencies, it was informed that North East accounts for over 30 per cent of the lightning related deaths and the number of thunderstorms in the country has doubled since 2011.
The presentations made by Col. Sanjay Srivastava, chairman of the Climate Resilient Observing System Promotion Council, New Delhi and convener of the campaign, said that people should not stand under a tree during lightning as it is the primary cause of death and according to statistics, 321 out of 487 deaths occurred in such situations.
It was also informed that the aim of the campaign was to bring down the lightning related deaths by 80 per cent in the next year three years.
A request was also made to make NESAC a hub of lightning campaign and forming lightning action committees with representatives of the state government for quick dissemination of advance warning and information about lightning.
NESAC Director PLN Raju said that NESAC was providing information to people where lightning takes place through the web portal and now advance warnings can be provided 40-45 minutes in advance, but the centre is working on different applications to further increase the time of advance warnings.
The meeting was also attended by PP Srivastava, Advisor, NDMA and former NEC member, besides representatives of different state governments and more than 100 other participants from the region.