Lightning in Northeast Bangladesh: Relation with climatic variables, consequences and adaptation

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the lightning during a thunderstorm has recently been officially declared as natural disaster, resulting in numerous fatalities each year, especially in the country's northeast. This study aims to look into the relationships between lightning and climatic variables, the spatial distribution of deaths, people's perceptions of the disaster's consequences and adaptation measures, and the influencing factors that make people victims in Sunamganj District. Several statistical approaches, such as descriptive statistics, correlation, and the Mann-Kendall Test, were used to meet the study objectives by examining time series data of climatic variables, lightning events, and household survey data. The data imply that lightning strikes have a positive and statistically significant relationship with climatic variables such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, and air pressure. Moreover, that lightning strikes may become more common in the future as climatic variables increase. The perceived consequences of lightning strikes include disruption of human life, injury, damage and or burning of environmental and infrastructural elements, etc. Going outside during a thunderstorm and/or remaining outside during a thunderstorm are the primary factors contributing to a tragic accident. Those who were engaged in income-generating activities during the monsoon, like agricultural operations such as Boro Rice farming and fishing, were the most vulnerable to this hazard. Therefore, several adaptation strategies, including house safety and facilitating emergency shelter; assisting victim families for recovery and rehabilitation; travelling in covered vehicles during a thunderstorm; and disseminating knowledge about proper lightning safety measures, outside movement during a thunderstorm, and first aid information for initial treatment through awareness building campaign should be implemented to reduce the number of casualties.