Thursday, February 2, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News World News

Climate crisis triggers spike in lightning strike deaths in India

AFPbyAFP
September 3, 2021, 12:00 pm
in World News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Faizuddin is still traumatised from the lightning strike that killed his three friends as they took selfies atop a 400-year-old fort in India, where climate change is making lethal strikes more common.

Scores of people have met similarly gruesome ends this year in the western desert state of Rajasthan, where deaths caused by thunderstorms used to be uncommon. 

"I was hit by three thunderbolts, one after the other," said Faizuddin, his voice quivering as he lay wrapped in a blanket at his modest home in Jaipur.

He and his trio of childhood friends had climbed hundreds of steps to a watchtower on top of Amer Fort during a July storm that also claimed eight other lives.

"The sound was deafening, it felt like a huge bomb blast. My trousers and shoes caught fire, my limbs became stiff and I couldn't move," the 21-year-old told AFP, a deep gash still on his head.

ADVERTISEMENT

Around 2,500 people die in lightning strikes around India each year, according to government figures, compared to just 45 in the United States.

Cattle and other animals are often killed or maimed during severe thunderstorms, with one burst of lightning in northeastern Assam state wiping out a herd of 18 elephants in May. 

Thunderbolts contain as much as a billion volts of electricity and can cause immense damage to buildings when they hit.

Earlier this year at another fort in Chittorgarh, a few hours south of where Faizuddin's friends died, a bolt struck a tower and sent a huge chunk of stone plummeting to the ground.

The site was fitted with a rod to draw lightning away from the centuries-old structure "but it proved to be ineffective," said Ratan Jitarwal, a conservator supervising the fort's painstaking repair work.

– 'A sudden surge' –

Lightning is also becoming more frequent, with nearly 19 million recorded strikes in the 12 months to March — up by a third from the previous year. 

Global warming is driving the increase, says Sanjay Srivastava of the Lightning Resilient India Campaign, one of the few organisations collecting data on thunderstorms.

"Because of climate change and localised heating of the Earth's surface, and more moisture, there is a sudden surge of huge lightning," he told AFP.

The problem is worldwide, with research this year forecasting a possible doubling of the average number of lightning strikes inside the Arctic Circle over this century.

This could spark widespread tundra fires and trigger massive amounts of carbon stored within the permafrost escaping into the atmosphere, exacerbating global warming. 

Evidence suggests lightning strikes are also becoming more common in urban areas — a particular concern in India, where the city population is forecast to rise dramatically in the coming years. 

Srivastava said the results could be catastrophic if, for example, a strike hit a hospital and shorted out equipment used to keep patients on life support in intensive care. 

– 'Devil came from the sky' –

As with rising sea levels, the growing frequency of deadly heatwaves and other consequences of climate change, the country of 1.3 billion people is struggling to adapt to the threat of worse lightning strikes.

Most human deaths in thunderstorms are preventable but almost no buildings have lightning rods to protect their inhabitants, Srivastava said.

Forecasting is also tricky and warning people of approaching storms is difficult.

Indian scientists recently developed a mobile app that seeks to provide real-time warnings about imminent strikes and precautions to be taken.

But this has limited use in a country where only half the population has access to a smartphone, and even fewer in rural areas where strikes are more common.

Many people are also unaware of the dangers and what to do — like not to shelter under a tree and avoiding open areas — in a thunderstorm.

"Had we known that lightning strikes… can kill and maim, we would have never allowed our son to step out of the house," said Mohammed Shamim, whose 20-year-old son died in the Amer Fort incident.

"He had worn a new shirt that day and all he wanted was to take some nice shots on his phone. But it feels as if some devil came from the sky and took our son away." 

Tags: climate crisisIndiaLightning strike
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

US, S. Korea hold air drills as North warns of ‘showdown’

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:35 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

South Korea said Thursday it had staged joint air drills with the United States featuring strategic bombers and stealth fighters,...

Read more

Late Cardinal Pell’s funeral sparks Sydney protests

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:30 pm
0
8
Late Cardinal Pell’s funeral sparks Sydney protests

Protesters confronted mourners with chants of “shame” outside the funeral of controversial top Vatican cardinal George Pell in Sydney on...

Read more

Pakistan mosque bomber was in ‘police uniform’

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:25 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

The suicide bomber who killed 101 people inside a mosque at a police headquarters in Pakistan was wearing a police...

Read more

Russia strikes Ukraine building, killing 3 people

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:20 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine on Thursday after a Russian strike...

Read more

HK offers free flights after COVID isolation

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:15 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Hong Kong is ready to welcome the world back, its leader said Thursday, as he pitched free flights and positive...

Read more

Israel warplanes strike Gaza after rocket fire

byAFP
February 2, 2023, 6:10 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Israeli warplanes struck Gaza early Thursday, drawing retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian militants, as violence flared despite US calls for...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • MIAA retools rescue unit for emergencies
  • Feast of Candelaria
  • Ousted Albay gov seeks SC status quo ante order
  • NHA gives away homes to 216 poor families in Orion, Bataan
  • DFA turns over ATN functions to fledgling DMW
  • DOJ: 2 more complaints vs. Bantag
  • Bill on mental health likely to be approved
  • Mayor’s portrait

Advertisement

Latest News

DOJ: 2 more complaints vs. Bantag

byRey E. Requejo
February 2, 2023, 10:50 pm
0
8
QC singular focus: Delivery of basic services

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has assigned prosecutors to conduct preliminary investigations on two more separate criminal complaints filed against...

Read more

Bill on mental health likely to be approved

byMaricel Cruz
February 2, 2023, 10:40 pm
0
8
Football legend Pele dies at 82, now eternal icon

The leadership of the House of Representatives has expressed confidence that the Senate will prioritize the passage of a bill that...

Read more

Mayor’s portrait

byNorman Cruz
February 2, 2023, 10:39 pm
0
8
Protest actions

A portrait of Maria Sheilah Honrado Lacuna-Pangan by renowned visual artist and Philippine Navy Reservist CMO2 Kristine Lim PN (Res)....

Read more

The Speaker and the new DSWD Chief

byManny Palmero
February 2, 2023, 10:37 pm
0
8
Protest actions

Newly-appointed Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Sec. Rex Gatchalian pays a courtesy call on Speaker Ferdinand Martin G....

Read more

Protest actions

byManny Palmero
February 2, 2023, 10:34 pm
0
8
Protest actions

Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan hold protest actions at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City to oppose the visit of US...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App