PATNA: Alarmed over high incidents of lightning, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) has decided to install hooters (sirens) in all districts of the state to protect people from becoming victims of this natural phenomenon. The hooters would be installed in Patna, Gaya and Aurangabad districts in the initial phase and subsequently in the remaining districts.
Officials said hooters will become operational from January next year.
With the installation of hooters, people will be alerted about the incidents of lightning 40 minutes in advance. The BSDMA decided to install hooters as its earlier initiative to alert people about lightning through the Indravajra App could not yield the desired result. Although more than 1.25 lakh people have installed the app, the farmers working in the fields who mainly become victims of lightning do not have mobile phones and so do not have access to the Indravajra App through which one can get information about lightning 30 minutes in advance.
The sound of hooters can travel up to five kms, prompting people to move to safer places. Besides hooters, lightning conductors would also be installed at government buildings. Lightning conductors will absorb charges from the lightning falling within 130 meters.
According to the annual lightning report 2021-22 released in June this year, Bihar is at 10th position in terms of lightning. A total of 2,59,266 incidents of thunderstorms were recorded in Bihar, which is 23% less in 2020-21.
In 2020, there were 15,22,553 incidents of lighting, out of which 8,88,282 occurred within the clouds as 6,37,271 fell on ground. In Bihar, 139 people died after lightning struck them in 2018, 253 in 2019, 459 in 2020, 280 in 2021 and 344 in 2022.
Ashish Kumar Singh, a senior official at Patna meteorological center, however, attributed the frequent lightning strikes to geographical positioning of Bihar along with global warming factors.