KSNDMC conducts study at Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts

Mysore/Mysuru: As many as 70 people have died due to lightning and thunder strikes in rural belt in the last 10 years, according to the report by Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).

As per the study conducted by KSNDMC in Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts, 32 people died due to lightning strike in Mysuru district, 27 in Chamarajanagar and 11 people lost their lives in Mandya district between 2011 and 2021.

Mysuru district reported 15 deaths due to lightning in 2015, no deaths in 2021 while 8 people had lost their lives in 2019. Kodagu district, which was struck by a series of natural disasters including floods and landslides, has not reported a single death due to lightning in the last 10 years.

The study also stated that the maximum deaths due to lightning took place in South Karnataka districts. Between June 2018 and December 2021, Mysuru District reported 13,437 cloud to ground lightning incidents, 14,138 incidents in Mandya and 8,635 incidents were recorded in Chamarajanagar. In neighbouring districts, Hassan reported 16,264 incidents, 16,994 in Chikkamagalur and Shivamogga reported 14,866 lightning incidents. Kodagu reported fewer incidents with 6,303 lightning strikes being recorded.

The study report states that rural and forest areas are most vulnerable due to the presence of tall trees and water bodies and a majority of the lightning victims were people working in agricultural fields in rural areas.

The report sets guidelines to the local authorities with specific instructions on dos and don’ts including preventive steps and to improve response mechanism besides capacity building. The KSNDMC report suggests that awareness and education is an important component to foster a culture of preventing and preparedness.