Lightning strikes claimed 92 lives in Odisha this year: Minister

Bhubaneswar, Dec 4 (PTI) Lightning strikes have claimed the lives of 92 people in Odisha this year, state Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari informed the assembly on Thursday.

Replying to a question from BJD legislator Ashwini Kumar Patra, the minister said four people died due to floods while four others died in whirlwinds.

A maximum of 10 deaths due to lightning strikes were reported in Bargarh district, followed by eight in Koraput, and seven each in Keonjhar and Angul, Pujari said.

As per the data provided by the minister, no lightning death was reported in Boudh, Cuttack, Nuapada, Jagatsinghpur and Kandhamal districts.

Similarly, the flood-related deaths were reported in Jajpur (three) and Balasore (one), whereas three persons were killed in whirlwinds in Bolangir and one in Cuttack.

The minister further stated that the government has also been disseminating prior information to the public about impending cyclones and floods through Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) in six vulnerable districts -- Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam -- under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project since March, 2019.

The government has also set up 122 alert siren towers in the district headquarters and 22 coastal blocks in the six districts, six fish landing centres and multipurpose cyclone shelters, he said.

To get early information about cyclones, doppler radars have been established at Paradip and Gopalpur, he added.

Common alert system has been implemented in the state since 2021 to disseminate prior information about natural disasters through SMSes.

Pujari said Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), in association with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), has also implemented the Mitigation Project for Lightning Safety (MPLS) to curb deaths due to lightning strikes.

Moreover, lightning alerts are also provided to the public through the Satark app on the basis of real-time data collected by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), he added. PTI BBM BBM ACD