Dr. Shreeram Sharma /Dr. Prem Raj Dhungel 

We are very much touched when we hear about people killed in a plane crash. All media cover it and everybody starts talking about the measures to be taken to minimise or avoid the crash. But, many of us are not aware of the fact that lightning kills over 100 people in Nepal alone and nearly 24,000 people globally per year.
This natural catastrophe, which is the second largest killer after the earthquake in Nepal, is given less attention and fewer safety measures are taken compared to the potential it carries to destroy lives and properties. This is because of lack of information, knowledge and awareness about the lightning and its hazards. That’s why the campaigns disseminating the scientific fact-based information, ways and technologies to protect lives from the lightning are necessary. One of the attempts is marking the International Lightning Safety Day (ILSD), which falls on June 28.

Myths & Superstitions
Not only us, but our ancestors also had experienced and been terrified by lightning since the time immemorial and hence it became a part of their superstitions, and myths. Every human civilisation had attributed lightning to be the manifestation of their deities depicted in various forms.
Hindu mythology depicts lightning as the weapon ‘Vazra’ of the king of heaven, Lord Indra; whereas, Scandinavian mythology depicts Thor riding the reindeer chariot over the anvil and tossing lightning bolt with his hammer ‘mjollnir’. Similarly, ‘Umpundulo’, the magical thunder bird is what creates thunderbolt according to the African tribesmen ‘Bantu’. In Chinese mythology, Tien Mu is among the five dignitaries of the “Ministry of thunderstorms”, which is chaired by Lei Tsu, the God of Thunder, aided by Lei Kung, the drum-beating Count of Thunder. The lightning and thunder gods still continue in the popular beliefs of several communities in the world.
In spite of all these superstitions, the physics behind this natural phenomenon has now been well understood. While the water mass particles go up after evaporation from the earth’s surface to form clouds, charges are induced due to friction which are huge in quantity and set up very big electric potential tending to discharge to earth’s surface finding the easiest path. This is how the lightning causes. The simple way to be protected from it is to set up the easiest conducting path for the flow of huge electric charge between the cloud and the ground and living beings and the properties not to stay on the path.

Protection from damage
There is a long record of lightning damage to tall structures, covering the period from the Middle Ages to the modern era. However, with the advancement in the technology, particularly in electronics, the threat has escalated as the electronic appliances are extremely susceptible to the electrical surges, often produced by lightning. The electronic appliances not only get damaged by lightning but also can ignite fire engulfing the houses and even the human settlements.
Lightning fatalities are more common in the developing and least developed countries compared to the developed ones. Such a discrimination could be accounted for a few facts: Majority of the fatalities occur when people are engaged in outdoor activities. Since the developing nations intensively depend on the manual work particularly in the agricultural activities; whereas, these activities are machine dependent in the developed nations. Lack of houses with steel reinforcement in the rural areas and lack of education and the deep rooted superstition also contribute to lightning incidents.
Despite the extent of the damages and loss of lives, lightning has been extremely underrated in many countries as this is not even considered as a natural hazard. This could be due to the sporadic and scattered nature of incidents. However, lightning can kill a large number of people if struck while people make gatherings. More than 300 people were killed on June 26, 1807 in Luxemburg when a lightning struck a gunpowder factory. This is the largest number of lightning caused deaths in the written history. More recently, on June 28 in 2011, 18 children were killed and 38 were severely injured by a single lightning strike at Runyanya Primary School in Kiryandongo District, Uganda. The international press covered the event, but not much was thought about it until the ‘International Symposium on Lightning Protection (ISLP) 2011’ was held in Kathmandu, Nepal. This conference brought together individuals who began to recognise the threat to life that lightning poses in developing countries around the world. It was the same year, when a lightning strike destroyed a 340 years old UNESCO world heritage monument, Pratappur temple at Swayambhunath premise in Kathmandu.
After the Kathmandu ISLP, similar conferences were held in Africa in 2013 and 2014 leading to the formation of ACLENet and ZaCLIR. At the Lusaka conference in 2015, a resolution was passed urging the institution of ILSD by the United Nations choosing June 28 as a reminder of the tragic Runyanya incident. The World Meteorology Organisation (WMO) recognised it. Individuals in many countries began collecting data on lightning injuries and started to get involved in injury prevention, public education and networking with those in other countries with similar lightning challenges.
Realising the need of regional cooperation, a round-table meeting on lightning and thunderstorms was organised on 12-14 September, 2019 at Tripura University, India, which founded South Asian Lightning Network (SALNet). Dr. Shriram Sharma from Nepal was unanimously elected as its founding chairperson.
Nepal again took the lead (sponsored by SALNet and supported by ACLENet) in bringing the idea of commemorating ILSD and lightning safety activism to worldwide attention organising a two-day virtual conference on 25-26 June, 2020 involving over 70 participants from more than a dozen countries across 13 time zones.

Challenges
Lightning is the most common natural activity that every humankind experiences yet is the most underrated natural hazards which claims considerable number of lives every year. The developing countries are more vulnerable to the hazards and have to face challenges such as the lack of demography of lightning related fatalities and injuries, unavailability of lightning map, lack of government policy, abandonment of lightning protection system in the building code, if they exist at all, sporadic nature of incidents etc. Apart from these, building cost effective safe shelters are the biggest challenge for the developing nations. To mitigate the impacts of lightning by meeting the challenges and addressing the above issues, a multi-sectoral approach is required.
In addition to loss of lives, the economic loss the lightning causes due to the structural damages, house/forest fires, killing of livestock, is estimated to amount to billions of rupees. Due to the rapid climatic changes, the numbers of lightning incidents are rising. Realising the seriousness of the issue, there have been several scientific conferences, symposiums and workshops around the world. Such activities have been useful to raise awareness but are not sufficient to significantly mitigate the loss of life and property.
The aim of marking ILSD is not only to commemorate the Runyanya incident, but also to draw attention of the general public, government organisations, and other stakeholders to realise the threat of lightning and take necessary steps towards mitigation of lightning hazards.

(Dr. Sharma is chairman of the South Asian Lightning Network and Dr. Dhungel is its member.)