In a recent news around 68 people died yesterday due to lightening in differrnt parts of India. Over 1600 people have died in India between April 2020 to March 2021. This is around 33 % of total death due to natural reason.
Ligtening is one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon, which can certainly be deadly at times. While many photographers like to snap the thunderous lightening from the cloud, it can causes many fatalities at ground.
What is Lightening ??
Lightning is actually an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds.
Lightning may be seen before the thunder is heard and this is because the distance between the clouds and the surface is very long and the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound and hence lightning can be seen before the thunder is heard.
Why so many death due to lightening??
Despite all the technological advancement,lightening strikes remain the most fatal cause of death by the natural forces. Cloud to ground form of liftening kils humans, animals, livestock and can substantially damages many properties.
To give a simple prospective of these lightening death, a household current is 120 volts and 15amp, whereas a typical lightening flash is 300 Million Volts and 30000 amps. This is enough to illuminate 100 watts bulbs for 3 months.
The main reason of so many casualties is because, people being caught unaware as the primary reason. It has been observed that during pre monsoon, or initial monsoon fatalities are more to farmers as they are out regularly carrying out agricultural activies in farms and fields. Over 70% of lightening death occurs while standing under a tree.
The reason of all the casualties is because of rapid degradation of environment, like, global warming, deforestation, depletion of water bodies, concretization , rising pollution, and aerosol level have pushed the environment to extreme. Lightening is the direct propagation of these environmental extremities.
The energy from lightning can heat the air to around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit
Africa is the continent with most lightening death followed by Asia, South America, North America ,and Australia. The death number is continously increasing around the world and we are seeing it helpless way to meet the end.
Hopefully, in coming days, we can develop to do something that may protect the damages caused by this devastating natural forces.