To combat lightening deaths in Odisha, people will now receive voice message alerts

NewsBharati    14-Sep-2017
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Bhubaneswar, September 14: Odisha has always been experiencing a fierce form of deaths due to lightning thunder. An average more than 300 people die of lightning every year in Odisha. To combat such deaths, state has planned to send alerts to citizens on their mobile phones via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) or voice messages. 

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said that “Engineers have been instructed to install lightning conductors at school buildings and offices under the Rural Development department. Lightning conductors should also be installed at temples and residential apartments”.

Notably, Odisha has registered 20% of deaths in the country due to lightning strikes. As many as 1623 people have succumbed to lightning strikes in the state during last five years, according to a report of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office.

A report jointly prepared by the UNDP, OSDMA (Odisha State Disaster Management Authority) and Department of Geography, Utkal University, said that the spatial distribution of the events reveals their greater concentration in the districts of Cuttack, Mayurbhanj and Jaipur. Other districts are Ganjam, Kendrapara, Khurda, Dhenkanal, Balasore and Bhadrak, the report said adding that hilly and centrally located districts of Malkangiri, Deogarh, Kandhamal, Jharsuguda, Gajapati and Rayagada witness the smallest number of lightning events.