BANGLADESH has, as Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System data suggest, the highest rate of death by lightning strike in South Asia. Whilst more than 3.3 million lightning strikes happen in Bangladesh every year, the rate of death by strikes remains at 1.21 per 1,000 square kilometres, with India trailing by 0.86 and Nepal by 0.62. Records show that 270 people have so far died by lightning strike this year. The figure of death by lightning strike was 322 in 2024, as records available with the disaster management department say. In 2020, considered the worst year since 2015 in terms of the disaster, lightning strikes killed 427 people. Data show that 62 per cent of more than 3.3 million lightning strikes happening in Bangladesh every year occur between April and June, with May being the month when most of the strikes take place. And, lightning strikes happen mostly in Jamalganj, an upazila in the north-eastern district of Sunamganj, with 103 strikes per square kilometre on an average every year. Other areas where lightning strikes happen frequently are Netrakona and Moulvibazar, near Sunamganj.
Meteorologists say that the north-eastern haor region sits on massive, static water bodies in the background of Meghalaya which offers a perfect condition for lightning strikes. An analysis of 13 years of lightning strike data points to a conclusion that the frequency of the strike has increased by about 10 per cent, viewed on par with the global knowledge that an increase in temperature by one degree Celsius accounts for an increase in the frequency of lightning strikes by 10 per cent. A typical lightning strike is said to have about 300 million volts and 30,000 amperes of current. And, death by lightning strike remains a problem, which may not be eliminated but can be minimised with an efficient warning system. An early forecast of lightning strike is difficult but specific warning, as experts say, is possible six to 12 hours before lightning strikes. A meteorologist at the Met Office says that Bangladesh has introduced an experimental advanced lightning forecasting system which since April 1 has been able to forecast lightning strikes one to six hours before the disaster happens. Experts now demand that the government should ask mobile operators to broadcast lightning warnings to communities vulnerable to lightning strikes so that death by lightning strikes could be minimised.
Whilst the government should, in such a situation, step up the forecasting so that warnings could be flagged six to 12 hours before the happening, it should put in place a warning broadcast system to make the best use of the forecast.