Lok Sabha Question No. 2463 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-16
Subject: Deaths due to Lightning Strikes
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOKSABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2463 TH

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 16 MARCH, 2022

## DEATHS DUE TO LIGHTNING STRIKES

## 2463. SHRIMATI KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- the State-wise details of deaths caused due to lightning strikes in ~he las five years, especially in Tamil Nadu; I the reasons for the government to not notify lightning as a natural calamity despite the increase of deaths and damage caused by it; I l (a) (b)
- the details of the lightning arrestors/ detectors installed in rural arras in he State of Tamil Nadu, at present; (c)
- whether warnings are communicated in the regional language on the Da ini app; and if so the details of the number of downloads of the app; and (d)
- whether the Government has taken any effective steps to ensur last mile dissemination of lightning related warnings and information to miti ate d mage, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? (e)

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- The State-wise details of deaths due to lightning strikes in the last five yeJrs including the State of Tamil Nadu is given in Annexure-I. I (a)
- Presently the notified list of disasters eligible for National Disaster Re ponse Fund (NDRF)/State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) assistance, inchides ~2 disasters namely cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloud burst, pest attack and frost & cold wave. The isfue of [inclUSion of more calamities in the existing notified list of calamities, was considered by the 15th Finance Commission. The Commission in para 8.143 of its reporf had opserved that the list of notified disasters eligible for funding from State bisaster Response Mitigation Fund (SDRMF) and National Disaster Response I Mitigation Fund (NDRMF) covers the needs of the State to large extent and thus did ndt find much merit in the request to expand its scope. However, a State Govern~ent ~n use up to 10% of the annual funds allocation of the SDRF, subject to fulfilme t of certain I prescribed conditions and norms, for providing immediate relief to thr victims of natural disasters that they consider to be 'disasters' within local cpntext in the State and which are not included in the centrally notified list of natural di asters. (b)
- (c) Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) an autonomous institutior:nder the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has installed a lightning locatton ne ork over India with 83 sensors spread over the country. As each sensor has a ~overa e of about 200 sq km, occurrence of lightning can be detected with utmost accurac . IITM has installed five lightning detectors in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
1. Thiruvarur 2. Vellore 3. Coimbatore 4. Madurai 5. Pondicherry

Lightning warning are being sent via Mobile App DAMINI-Lightning lert. There are more than 5 lakhs downloads ofDamini app all over India. I

- (d) IITM is working on the update of the DAMINI App to provide Wa[ing i all major Indian languages including Tamil.
- India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues forecasts a d lrning for thunderstorms and related weather phenomena to reduce deaths ass~ciate with them. For monitoring thunderstorms, IMD has an advanced observatidnal s I stem. This includes a dense network of Doppler Weather Radars, multi-channel INSAT 3D satellite series as well as the data from ground based Lightning DeJlectorfetwork of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and Indian Ai I Force (IAF). In addition to this, various numerical model products that cat r sperlifically to forecasts/nowcasts of thunderstorms and lightning over the Indian regio have been developed with the support from sister organisations under MoES. (e)

Based upon the guidance from observations and model produ ts, forecasts and warnings are provided for thunderstorm and associated severe weather elements. These forecasts and warnings are given in sub-divisional scale for la peri1d five days where as from Regional/State Meteorological Centres, it is given in distr~ct level for the same period. In addition to this, nowcast warnings are issued by the Regional Meteorological Centres (RMCs) and State Met. Centres (SMCs) or the development of thunderstorm and associated weather phenomena every three houts for 1084 stations and 739 districts across the country. These nowcasts are diss minated by various means like SMS/WhatsApp/emaii etc. to the users for t~eir be efit. In the recent past, these warnings are provided with possible impacts an? guidrlines to the public which were finalized in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The information is transmitted through the IMD website (https:llmausam.imd.gov.iniimd latestlcontents/districtwisewarnings.php and https:llmausam.imd.gov.in/imd latestlcontents/stationwise-nowcas~-warn' g.php), mobile app based alerts (MEGHDOOT, MAUSAM), SMS, e~ail arid whatsapp messages in local language. The alerts of the IMD website are interactive tn nature.

Also, National Disaster Management authority (NDMA) has takeJ effee,ve steps for mitigation action in the concerned issues. NDMA has issued Guidelines for Action Plan on Thunderstorm & Lightning! Squall and Strong wind in 20~8-201 ~and sent to all State Governmentsl UTs and uploaded on the website ofND .

Further NDMA has taken initiatives as following:

- NDMA issued specific advisories Do's and Don'ts on Th mders rm and Lightning to State Governments/ UTs for taking necessary action~
- NDMA Reviewed the preparedness & mitigation measures on .hunder· storm and Lightning through Video Conferencing (VC) with most affected "I tates.
- Develop a protocol for early warning dissemination on Thunderstorm and Lightning, 1
- NDMA produced IEC materials like TVCs Pocket Books co ,tainin do's and don'ts, audio-visuals on thunderstorm and lightning. I
- Special panel discussion (TV Debate) on 'AapdakaSaamna' sho Ion D;ordarShan.
- Doordarshan and All India Radio - NDMA has run campaign t I rough TV (Doordarshan) and Radio (All India Radio) for awareness ~enera ion among masses on 'Thunderstorm & Lightning' during April 2021 in tile statrs prone to the disaster including North Eastern States and West Bengal. ~
- Social Media campaign on thunderstorm and lightning begi from February onwards. Do's and don'ts are being shared on ND~'s sobial media platforms and videos are being continuously posted on twitter an facebook,

| StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   | StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   | StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   | StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   | StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   | StatelUT wise number of accidental deaths due to Li~htnin[! durina 2016-202~   |       |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------|
| SN                                                                             | State/UT                                                                       | 2016                                                                           | 2017                                                                           | 2018                                                                           | 201~                                                                           | 2020  |
| 1                                                                              | Andhra Pradesh                                                                 | 53                                                                             | 77                                                                             | 74                                                                             | 1091                                                                           | 93    |
| 2                                                                              | Arunachal Pradesh                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 3                                                                              | Assam                                                                          | 92                                                                             | 30                                                                             | 36                                                                             | 28                                                                             | 14    |
| 4                                                                              | Bihar                                                                          | 282                                                                            | 263                                                                            | 177                                                                            | 400 1                                                                          | 436   |
| 5                                                                              | Chhattisgarh                                                                   | 211                                                                            | 270                                                                            | 213                                                                            | 212                                                                            | 246   |
| 6                                                                              | Goa                                                                            | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 2                                                                              | 0     |
| 7                                                                              | Gujarat                                                                        | 29                                                                             | 54                                                                             | 13                                                                             | 64                                                                             | 78    |
| 8                                                                              | Haryana                                                                        | 12                                                                             | 3                                                                              | 6                                                                              | 11                                                                             | 3     |
| 9                                                                              | Himachal Pradesh                                                               | 2                                                                              | 3                                                                              | 8                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 5     |
| 10                                                                             | Jharkhand                                                                      | 542                                                                            | 150                                                                            | 235                                                                            | 1 3341                                                                         | 1 336 |
| 11                                                                             | Kamataka                                                                       | 77                                                                             | 121                                                                            | 126                                                                            | 99                                                                             | 75    |
| 12                                                                             | Kerala                                                                         | 17                                                                             | 19                                                                             | 25                                                                             | 15                                                                             | 1 8   |
| 13                                                                             | Madhya Pradesh                                                                 | 639                                                                            | 452                                                                            | 381                                                                            | 4001                                                                           | 429   |
| 14                                                                             | Maharashtra                                                                    | 230                                                                            | 284                                                                            | 149                                                                            | 189                                                                            | 182   |
| 15                                                                             | Manipur                                                                        | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 16                                                                             | Meghalaya                                                                      | 12                                                                             | 15                                                                             | 5                                                                              | 7                                                                              | 8     |
| 17                                                                             | Mizoram                                                                        | 1                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 1 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 18                                                                             | Nagaiand                                                                       | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 1     |
| 19                                                                             | Odisha                                                                         | 376                                                                            | 446                                                                            | 299                                                                            | 2711                                                                           | 275   |
| 20                                                                             | Punjab                                                                         | 8                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 4                                                                              | 7                                                                              | 8     |
| 21                                                                             | Rajasthan                                                                      | 108                                                                            | 121                                                                            | 43                                                                             | 88                                                                             | 1 48  |
| 22                                                                             | Sikkim                                                                         | 1                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0     |
| 23                                                                             | Tamil Nadu                                                                     | 38                                                                             | 74                                                                             | 82                                                                             | 57                                                                             | 64    |
| 24                                                                             | Telangana                                                                      | 74                                                                             | 79                                                                             | 68                                                                             | 96                                                                             | 64    |
| 25                                                                             | Tripura                                                                        | 12                                                                             | 17                                                                             | 10                                                                             | 10                                                                             | 5     |
| 26                                                                             | Uttar Pradesh                                                                  | 384                                                                            | 217                                                                            | 220                                                                            | 321                                                                            | 304   |
| 27                                                                             | Uttarakhand                                                                    | 1                                                                              | 7                                                                              | 2                                                                              | 2                                                                              | 10    |
| 28                                                                             | West Bengal                                                                    | 110                                                                            | 176                                                                            | 179                                                                            | 1 1471                                                                         | 170   |
|                                                                                | TOTAL STATE(S)                                                                 | 3311                                                                           | 2881                                                                           | 2357                                                                           | 2871                                                                           | 2862  |
| 29                                                                             | A&N Islands                                                                    | 0                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 1 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 30                                                                             | Chandigarh                                                                     | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 2 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 31                                                                             | D&N Haveli and Daman&Diu @ +                                                   | 0                                                                              | 2                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0     |
| 32                                                                             | Delhi UT                                                                       | 2                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 33                                                                             | Jammu &Kashmir@ *                                                              | 2                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 1                                                                              | 0     |
| 34                                                                             | Ladakh@                                                                        |                                                                                |                                                                                |                                                                                | 1                                                                              | 0     |
| 35                                                                             | Lakshadweep                                                                    | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0 1                                                                            | 0     |
| 36                                                                             | Puducherry                                                                     | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0                                                                              | 0     |

|                                                                               | TOTAL UT(S)                                                                   | 4                                                                             | 4                                                                             | o    | 5    | o    |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|
|                                                                               | TOTAL (ALL INDIA)                                                             | 3315                                                                          | 2885                                                                          | 2357 | 2876 | 2862 |
| As per data provided by states/UTs                                            |                                                                               |                                                                               |                                                                               |      |      |      |
| '+' Combined data of erstwhile D & N HAVELI DAMAN &DIU UT during 2016-2019    | '+' Combined data of erstwhile D & N HAVELI DAMAN &DIU UT during 2016-2019    | '+' Combined data of erstwhile D & N HAVELI DAMAN &DIU UT during 2016-2019    | AND                                                                           |      |      |      |
| '*' Data of erstwhile JAMMU & KASHMIR State Including LADAKH during 2016-2019 | '*' Data of erstwhile JAMMU & KASHMIR State Including LADAKH during 2016-2019 | '*' Data of erstwhile JAMMU & KASHMIR State Including LADAKH during 2016-2019 | '*' Data of erstwhile JAMMU & KASHMIR State Including LADAKH during 2016-2019 |      |      |      |
| '@' Data of newly created Union territory                                     |                                                                               |                                                                               |                                                                               |      |      |      |

The above data was provided by National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB).

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