Bolt from the blue!

A bolt from the blue is an idiom that suggests happening of something quite unexpected. But the original literally meaning too is not much different. It concerns a form of lightning that strikes out of an apparently cloudless sky. It 'originates from an anvil cloud atop a thunderstorm' -one that may be as far as 30 miles away.

However, the lightning bolts that are taking lives in Bangladesh in an increasing number do not come from a clear sky with the death summon. When about three scores people are killed by lightning in just two days, this country has every reason to be alarmed. Three different Bangla contemporaries have given figures of 56, 57 and 65 (revised to 81 in the middle of the week) casualties on account of thunder bolts during the two days of Thursday and Friday. In the past 10 years more than 4,500 people were killed by this new addition of natural calamity, according to the report carried in one of them. The National Lightning Safety Institute (NLSI) of the United States of America (USA) reckons in its 2010 report that of the total lightning deaths, one-fourth takes place in Bangladesh.

This is good enough to highlight the danger from the sky people in the country are exposed to. Even laymen can see that lightning has become a frequent killer, registering a higher incidence with the passage of time. This surely is a cause for serious concern as the NLSI confirms that Bangladesh is most vulnerable to the threat in the world.

But why?

Detractors and followers of a particular political organisation, however, have found an interpretation for this: their rumour-mongering machine churned out that it was the heavenly punishment delivered in retaliation for the hanging of their top leader. It follows the earlier image of another such war-time criminal seen on the moon.

However scientific explanation will be poles apart from such ignorant version. Scientists suspect that climate change and air pollution are mostly responsible for prompting clashes between upper and lower bolts produced in perpendicular masses of clouds. This happens particularly in May. Air pollution has been, according to them, a factor for inviting the lightning to come down towards the earth.

This explanation leaves one to wonder, though, about the lightning strikes. Most of the deaths from lightning are reported from villages. Hardly a death is reported in the most polluted cities like Dhaka. Is it because the lightning gets neutralised when it comes to the lower atmosphere thanks to the earthing connections of buildings and other installations? No layman explanation will be convincing unless there is a scientific explanation on this matter.

Meanwhile, the idea that more tree covers will get the country cooler makes some sense. More trees mean absorption of more carbon dioxide and release of more oxygen -one of the preconditions for keeping a place cooler. To fight climate change, this can be a potent weapon. But then a report says that lightning strikes people more when they take shelter under trees. This may be coincidental as well. There is no reason why trees will induce bolts to take an aim at trees. Maybe, cell phone- now everyone has in his/her hands can trigger lightning to travel towards its possessor.

All this is idle man's unfounded arguments. Better it would be if scientific experiments are carried out seriously to find out the real cause. This is most necessary, because the majority victims may now be in Bangladesh; it may not take long to change its course soon. Storms and cyclones are still the banes of Bangladesh but even the mightiest of nations in today's world is also facing such calamities very frequently of late.

Floods and other such calamities, once unheard of in many countries of Europe and even in the Middle East are now making their visitations there. The environment is in turmoil. No nation will be immune from those punishing phenomena if the climate change is not effectively addressed.