Ministry of Earth Sciences, through the India Meteorological Department (IMD), has issued forecasts and warnings for thunderstorms and associated weather phenomena five days in advance with regular updates, said a press release by the Ministry.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Science and Technology, in a written reply in Lok Sabha today, informed that the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, an autonomous research institution under MoES, has established a lightning location network at 83 places in the country to detect and locate lightning strikes with utmost accuracy.
The central processor of this network located at IITM, receives and processes the signal received from the network and identifies the location of lightning strikes with less than 500 metres accuracies. The output from this network is shared with IMD and various State Governments and is used for nowcasting purposes.
From National Weather Forecasting Centre in IMD, these forecasts and warnings are given on the meteorological sub-divisional scale whereas State Meteorological Centres issue the same at the district level. In addition to that, thunderstorms and associated disastrous weather phenomena are covered by nowcast (forecast for the next 3 hours issued every 3 hours) in the location/district level by State Meteorological Centres. At present, this facility is extended to all the districts and for about 1084 stations across the country.
In 2020, Damini Lightning apps were developed by IITM-Pune. The App is monitoring all lightning activity that is happening over India and alerts the person if lightning is happening near the person by GPS notification within a 20 km and 40 km radius. A detailed description of instructions and precautions is provided in the mobile app while in a lightning prone area. It also provides the lightning warning at the location valid for the next 40 minutes. There are more than 5 lakhs downloads of the Damini app over India.
Apart from the above, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has taken effective steps for mitigation action in the concerned issues. NDMA has issued Guidelines for Action Plan on Thunderstorm & Lightning/ Squall and Strong wind in 2018-2019 and sent to all State Governments/ UTs and uploaded on the website of NDMA.
Further, NDMA has taken initiatives as follows:
*NDMA issued specific advisories Do's and Don'ts on Thunderstorm and Lightning to State Governments/ UTs for taking necessary action.
*NDMA Reviewed the preparedness & mitigation measures on Thunderstorm and Lightning through Video Conferencing (VC) with most affected States.
*Develop a protocol for early warning dissemination on Thunderstorm and Lightning,
*NDMA produced IEC materials like TVCs, Pocket Books containing do's and don'ts, and audio-visuals on thunderstorms and lightning.
*Special panel discussion (TV Debate) on 'AapdakaSaamna' show on Doordarshan.
*Doordarshan and All India Radio - NDMA has run a campaign through TV (Doordarshan) and Radio (All India Radio) for awareness generation among masses on 'Thunderstorm & Lightning' during April 2021 in the States prone to the disaster including the North Eastern States and West Bengal.
*Social Media campaigns on thunderstorms and lightning are being conducted by NDMA. Do's and don'ts are being shared on NDMA's social media platforms and videos are being continuously posted on Twitter and Facebook.
( With inputs from ANI )
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