Bhubaneswar: With northern Odisha districts reporting majority of lightning deaths in the state, Fakir Mohan University with the help of Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) organised a master trainer workshop to strengthen awareness, preparedness and risk reduction measures against lightning hazards across northern Odisha recently.While inaugurating the programme, university vice-chancellor Santosh Kumar Tripathy emphasised the need to create grassroots-level ambassadors for lightning safety and work towards the goal of zero lightning casualties in northern Odisha. “If people, especially farmers and agricultural workers, know how to get respite from lightning, they can try to save themselves from the jaws of death,” he added.Executive director, OSDMA, Kamal Lochan Mishra attending the programme via online mode, stressed collaboration among govt agencies, universities, NGOs and communities for impactful lightning awareness campaigns.Professor of geography, FM University Balasore, Manoranjan Mishra spoke about evidence-based strategies and solutions to mitigate lightning-related disasters. He discussed a 10-point action plan to save people from lightning deaths.“Lightning occurs between May and Aug in the northern part of the state. People can take precautions between 2 pm and 7 pm of the day. Farmers should know this and take shelter under any pucca house to get respite from lightning strike. People can get messages on their mobile phones about this,” he added.He said these are some of the strategies, and local govt authorities can form standard operating procedures and awareness campaigns to reduce lightning deaths.The workshop was attended by 190 participants from OSDMA, NDRF, district and block administrations, with resource persons from IMD and NRSC.A major highlight was the interactive group discussions involving district and block-level officers to develop district-specific SOPs on lightning safety, focusing on casualty patterns, early warning utilisation, vulnerability assessment and last-mile communication.
