Declare lightning a natural disaster, demand states

As around 2,500 people die due to lightning every year surpassing the death toll by any other disaster, a few states have demanded it to be declared a natural disaster.

Talking about this, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member secretary Kamal Kishore said that it is a policy issue and deliberations are required regarding the same, The Hindu reported.

According to present norms, cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves are considered as disasters that are covered under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), 75 per cent of which is funded by the Centre.

During the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Conference (NPDRR) in Delhi, Bihar’s Disaster Management Minister Shahnawaz Alam said climate change was responsible for the increase in deaths by lightning. In the last five years, more than 1500 people have died in Bihar by lightning, with 300 deaths being recorded every year.

Throwing light on this topic, Director General of IMD, Mohapatra, said the frequency of lightning was the highest in northeastern states and in West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar, but the number of deaths were higher in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.

“Lightning characteristics are different for different regions, the prevalence is more at night and the early hours in hilly states and more during the day in the plains. That is why deaths occur more in the plains. India was among only five countries in the world that had early warning system for lightning, the forecast is available from five days to up to three hours in advance of the predicted event," Mr. Mohapatra added

The National Earthquake Risk Mitigation programme was in the works with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore, said Hitesh Kumar Makwana, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister has asked the NDMA to consider developing inter-sectoral programmes as the context for advancing the application of disaster management initiatives.