New Delhi: Since the 1960s, the biggest killer accounting for the most number of natural hazard deaths in India has largely gone unnoticed and is steadily on the rise — lightning strikes.
The rise in lightning strikes can be attributed to higher levels of moisture, rapidly rising air, and higher temperatures, resulting in more thunderstorms.
Death by lightning, affecting rural areas and tribal populations most acutely, more than doubled between 1967 and 2021, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCBR) shows. Lightning deaths are recorded under the ‘accidental deaths’ category by the NCRB.
Despite accounting for 35 per cent of all deaths due to natural hazards — including those caused by landslides, flooding, and earthquakes — lightning-related deaths are yet to capture policymakers’ attention in the same measure. Even though it is the most fatal of natural hazards in India, lightning isn’t classified as a natural disaster by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with repercussions down to the state level.
Incidentally, heat waves, too, are not recognised as a natural disaster at the national level under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Delhi-based disaster research non-profit Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC) stated in its annual report for 2021-2022 that only 16 states in India had declared lightning a state disaster. The report pointed out, “Wherein 10 per cent of State Disaster Relief Fund can be committed to state specific disasters. Such provisions do not serve the purpose and in most of the schemes, lightning is not incorporated as a disaster.”
An official with the NDMA who did not wish to be named said the central government is taking a more active interest in preventing lightning deaths and that the NDMA is considering focusing on preventive measures and mitigation activities that can be scaled up at a district-level to potentially save lives.
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‘Lightning deaths not priority at district-level’
NCRB data shows that while there were 1,165 lightning deaths in India in 1967, this number climbed to 2,880 in 2021. Though there are variations from year to year, the numbers show a clear upward trend in yearly lightning deaths.
A study by scientists from the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, found that lightning strikes had increased by around 25 per cent from 1998 to 2014, and that their frequency was projected to increase further by the turn of the century. In 2021 alone, the country saw over 58 lakh cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, up from 51 lakh in 2019, according to data with the CROPC.
“Higher levels of moisture and increased temperature can aid the formation of lightning,” explained Sunil Pawar, a senior scientist with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) who specialises in the electric characteristics of thunderstorms.
The IITM has established a network of 83 lightning detection devices across India that can determine the speed and direction of lightning with accuracy.
“Climate change is causing both, higher moisture levels in the air as well as higher temperatures,” Pawar added.
Locally, thunderstorm formation is influenced by moisture availability and instability in the atmosphere (rapidly rising air). When there is an upward motion of air, it can cause the ground to become more positively charged, which can cause a discharge of electricity from a thundercloud, resulting in lightning.
Global mean surface temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial levels. Every degree Celsius of warming brings with it a seven per cent increase in moisture, the latest series of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports reveal.
India is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming-induced climate change, which has already resulted in more erratic monsoons, intense heat waves, and now, more lightning.
While lightning strikes affect all regions of India and have increased in frequency everywhere, the states particularly susceptible to lightning strikes are Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, as well as Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and states in the Northeast, according to data available with the NDMA accessed by ThePrint.
But mortality doesn’t strictly depend on where lightning strikes, NCRB data reveals. Madhya Pradesh sustained the highest lightning-related mortality between 2001 and 2021, followed by Maharashtra, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.
“Even though Uttar Pradesh gets fewer lightning strikes compared to other states like Odisha, the mortality rate is very high. Action at the district level in most states is not enough. Lightning deaths are not seen as a priority at a district level,” Colonel Sanjay Srivastava, a retired Army veteran and chairman of the CROPC told ThePrint, adding that most victims were farmers and tribal people in rural areas.
The most common circumstance for death by lightning is standing under a tree.
Srivastava has travelled across the country to assess preparedness in the face of deadly lightning, and compiled a detailed report on lightning risks at a district level. These reports, which determine specific areas within a district most susceptible to lightning, assessed mitigation and prevention at every level, from checking for defibrillators in hospitals, to the functionality of early warning systems, and the circumstances of death.
These reports have been submitted to government agencies to come up with solutions to tackle the problem, Srivastava added.
Apart from deforestation, geography and time of a lightning strike can impact mortality, said Pawar, adding that these aspects need to be studied further. “In the Himalayan and Northeastern regions, lightning tends to strike at night, when most people are indoors, whereas in places like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it happens more in the afternoon when people are out and in the fields,” he told ThePrint.
‘Awareness can go long way in saving lives’
Experts largely agree that death by lightning is preventable, with early warning and awareness drives going a long way.
For Shakti Kumar, district disaster management officer of Bokaro district in Jharkhand, the biggest hindrance is lack of government funding to carry out workshops and drives for people who are most vulnerable to dying by lightning strikes, and who may not have smartphones to connect to early warning systems.
In 2020, the IITM — in partnership with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) — designed and launched an early warning system application called ‘Damini’, which can send lightning warnings within a 20 km radius. But the effectiveness of the application remains questionable, given the rise in lightning deaths and lack of specificity in the warning.
“Awareness can go a long way in saving lives in a district like Bokaro where 30 people die almost every year (by lightning strikes),” said Kumar. He added, “It’s a small matter — people should not stand under trees. But it will take a lot to get the message across.”
The Jharkhand government awards affected families a compensation of Rs 4 lakh in case of a lightning-related death, which means each district’s annual expenditure on compensation exceeds Rs 1 crore.
“Right now, we are conducting these workshops wherever possible with non-government funding, like CSR (corporate social responsibility). This kind of initiative requires cooperation from panchayat institutions and from local leaders as well,” Kumar said.
He added that better preparedness can also save livestock deaths from occurring, and stop people from stealing lightning conductors atop buildings meant to mitigate the effects of lightning strikes.
“The (central) government is thinking of coming up with a solution that will include certain factors: strengthening early warning systems at a micro-scale, improving lightning-resilient infrastructure in lightning prone districts, and improving awareness and access to information,” said the NDMA official quoted earlier.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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