New Delhi: Over 8,000 persons died in the country from 2018 to 2020 due to lightning strikes, the Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The information was shared by Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai in a written reply.
Citing NCB data, Rai stated that in 2018, 2357 people lost their lives due to lightning while in the following year the figure stood at 2876. As many as 2862 persons were killed in lightning strikes in 2020, he said.
According to the statistics provided by Rai, as many as 60 persons died due to avalanches and snowfall from 2019-20 to 2021-22. While 24 such deaths took place both in 2019-20 and 2020-21, the figure stood at 12 in 2021-22. Rai cited DRDO data for the related statistics.
Also read:10% quota for Aginveers will not affect 50% ceiling by SC: Govt in RS
As for the measures taken by the government to reduce such deaths, Rai stated that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has released guidelines on Management of Landslides & Snow Avalanches (2009), which have measures to reduce the impact of snow avalanches and early warning.
"Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) has developed the following technologies for accurate avalanche predictions to safeguard lives in snow-bound regions of Himalayas," stated Rai.
He also said that a regular operational avalanche warning is issued by the Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) to the Army and civilian population in the snow-bound regions of the northwest Himalayas.