‘Awareness needed to reduce casualties of lightning strikes’

Speakers at a discussion stressed on Sunday the need for creating mass awareness about lightning strikes to minimise the casualties and damages in the country, reports BSS.

They said it is not so easy to manage protection from such a quick hazard

and that's why people should be convinced through awareness campaign to stay at safe places during the thunderstorms.

Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) organised the discussion at its auditorium in the city.

According to the statistics, Bangladesh has now become one of the top affected countries of lightning strikes.

The world has registered the increased number of lightning strikes by 50 per cent while Bangladesh has witnessed more than two folds of the numbers in recent times.

Md Yakub Hossain Shikder, research fellow and director of IDEB study and research cell, and Md Monir Hossain, research fellow of IDEB study and research cell, made separate keynote papers on the casualties and damages by lightning strikes.

The discussants said people should be encouraged to install lightning rods in their houses. Besides, they urged the engineers to develop low cost system so that the farmers could protect themselves from the lightning strikes. Among the victims, 74 per cent are farmers.