Bihar thunderstorm, lightning toll rises to 63; ISRO help sought

The torrential rains and lightning that caused 63 deaths across various districts in Bihar on Thursday has come as a wake-up call for the state authorities, especially the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), which is now ascertaining the reasons behind the high rate of causalities.

- Anirban Guha Roy

PATNA:

The state disaster management body is also now planning to get proper data on thunderstorms through satellite imaging from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also put volunteers on alert at the village level in a big way to warn people to take precautions before any such thunderstorm.

"We feel, there has been some failure on our part in issuing early warnings of thunderstorms to rural people in a big way in affected districts, especially the Kal Baisakhi. It is true, the deaths have been high, but now we are going to have a more structured system in place to caution rural people of the dangers of staying outdoors during such thunderstorms, which was witnessed on Thursday," said vice-chairman of the BSDMA, Uday Kant Mishra.

Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena on Friday said that 63 persons have died following the devastating storm, of which 23 deaths were in Nalanda, six in Bhojpur, four each in Siwan, Patna, Sheikhpura, and the rest in other districts. "The storm was unexpected, but we have promptly carried out the rescue and rehabilitation works. Compensation of Rs four lakh, as announced, has been provided to the majority of the bereaved families," Meena said.

The chief secretary said that, out of the confirmed 63 deaths until 6 pm on Friday, 24 deaths were due to lightning strikes and 39 were due to other reasons, including the uprooting of trees.