Patna: When you go to the rural areas of Bihar, you will see many such palm trees which are burnt from above. Why is this so? Scientists say palm trees are usually the tallest and they attract lightning striking from the sky.
Soma Sen Roy, senior scientist of the Meteorological Department, says that the height of palm and date palm is a boon for Bihar. That's why the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) has advised to save these trees.
Palm trees act as lightning conductors
Due to the palm tree, lightning does not strike the ground or fields and does not pose a danger to the people present there. Palm trees act as lightning conductors in a way.
That is, trees that are historically considered less useful are saving lives. Wood is also not available from trees like palm or date palm. Toddy is also banned in Bihar due to prohibition.
BSDMA has studied hundreds of deaths every year due to lightning strikes in the state. It has been found in this study that tall trees like palm save lives during lightning.
86% of people killed by lightning were in rural areas
According to the statistics of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), maximum 86 percent of the people killed by lightning were in rural areas. People working in agriculture or related work are most affected by lightning.
BSDMA's study has revealed that most deaths due to lightning occur between 11 am and 6 pm and on an average, about 70 percent of them are male.
Apparently, men do most of the work in the fields or outside the house, so they are the most victims of lightning.
344 people died in Bihar due to lightning in 2022
According to the statistics of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) for the last five years, at least 344 people have died in Bihar due to lightning in the year 2022.
In the year 2021, 273 people died due to lightning or lightning.
Climate change increasing lightning frequencies
The incidents of lightning strikes are increasing across the country and so are the number of deaths due to them. Many studies have shown that climate change may be increasing lightning frequencies and intensities.
Scientists say increase in lightning strikes could be due to global warming. That's because the atmospheric phenomenon of lightning is linked to climate.
The heating of land masses can cause fluctuations in temperature and moisture which can in turn influence atmospheric stability and could generate thunderstorms.
As the world gets hotter, the frequency and intensity of lightning strikes over the Indian subcontinent has increased.
2,500 deaths every year in India due to lightning
According to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau, India reports 2,500 deaths every year that are due to lightning and thunderstorm-related events.
According to the second annual report of the Lightning Resilient India Campaign, some 18.5 million lightning strike were recorded over the country from April 2020 to March 2021. In such a scenario, the palm trees could be planted in other states also to save lives.
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