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In one day, presumably over a few hours of rain, 83 people have died in Bihar due to lightning strikes. I thought it was 2020 doing 2020 things, but I dug up some data to check. THREAD 1/n
Mass deaths because of lightning are not very uncommon. I vaguely remembered seeing a release when over 30 people died in a single day in Uttar Pradesh last year. I checked online and found that it has been documented: https://www.firstpost.com/india/32-people-killed-in-uttar-pradesh-four-in-rajasthans-jhalawar-district-after-being-struck-by-lightning-7031671.html
While 83 deaths are a lot, lets not forget that 25 lives were lost in UP today to lightning strikes. On June 1, 43 died in U.P: https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/43-deaths-in-uttar-pradesh-due-to-thunderstorm-lightning-cm-announces-rs-4-lakh-compensation-for-kin/articleshow/76128668.cms
13 died on May 30: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/13-deaths-in-ups-unnao-kannauj-districts-due-to-lightning-thunderstorm/articleshow/76112592.cms
13 died on May 30: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/13-deaths-in-ups-unnao-kannauj-districts-due-to-lightning-thunderstorm/articleshow/76112592.cms
Okay, now the data. In 2018, 2357 Indians died, accounting for 34% of all deaths due to the force of nature. Other causes include floods, landslides, sun strokes. But lightnings topped it all. There is no big natural killer in this country!
2018 wasn't even a bad year. 2017 saw 2885 deaths, 2016 saw 3315, and in each case, the strikes accounted for about two-fifths of all deaths due to nature. In 2014, all accidental deaths due to causes attributable to forces of nature in Goa and Tamil Nadu were due to ‘Lightning’
If we were to take the worst year on record since 2014 - that would be 2016, which saw 3315 deaths - 9 people die per day. India's weather office did a study with base period April-July 2019, and found UP was worst hit, Bihar close second - https://preventionweb.net/files/67542_67541midmonsoon2019lightningreportd.pdf
96% of deaths are from rural India,71% of deaths were of people standing under a tree! 25% died because of direct hits, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). "Not standing under trees during lightning can save over 2000" - IMD, which calls such deaths avoidable
IMD issues lightning forecasts 30 mins to 3 hours in advance. Governments just need to relay some basic messages and ensure it reaches people. They is an app called Damini, but many reviews on google play complain that they don't work and/or poor functionality.
The end.
The end.
