National Workshop on "Lightning preparedness, Early warnings and its dissemination, Mitigation and research based community centric solutions" @MSCBU

 

Death due to lightning continues to increase day by day. The researchers are of the opinion that most of the lightning strikes are seen in the Mayurbhanj district in the whole of India. In this regard, under the North Odisha Tribal Lightning Resilience Programme - 2023, a National Workshop on "Lightning preparedness, Early warnings and its dissemination, Mitigation and research based community centric solutions" has been held at the Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University on 20th April, 2023. The workshop was organized jointly by Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University, Fakir Mohan University, Balasore and CROSPY, Ranchi. Vice Chancellor Prof. Santosh Kumar Tripathy attended inaugurated the workshop as chief guest. In his address, he hoped that the programmes like this would eventually help in reducing the death rate due to lightning. Further he assured that such awareness programmes will be carried out in a planned manner with all the block-level colleges of Mayurbhanj. The meeting was presided by Chairman PG Council Prof. Pramoda Kumar Satapathy. Registrar of the University Mr. Sahadev Samadhia gave a welcome speech. Professor Nihar Ranjan Rout, Head of Department of Geography of Fakir Mohan University, joined as an honorable speaker and informed that two thousand people die every year due to natural calamities and 70% of them are due to lightning. Similarly, the other speaker, Fakir Mohan University's Geography Department Professor Manoranjan Mishra said in his speech that while the number of deaths due to lightning strikes in Odisha is high, it's more in Mayurbhanj due to climate change. IN western countries like US, UK, the rate is very low due to the awareness among public. He asked to take preventive measures such as 'stay at home during thunderstorms', 'do not sit under trees', 'do not use mobile phones', 'stay away from iron structures', 'sit on wooden cots' etc.. In particular, mobile apps like Satark, Damini and Sachet can provide advance information about lightning. Similarly, the chairman of CROSPY, Ranchi, Colonel Sanjay Srivastav expressed the opinion that there is a great need for everyone being aware aware of the local problems. Lightning is also said to be a boon to God. By lightning, Nitrogen is easily incorporated into the soil and increases the fertility of the soil. He said that due to climate change, more lightning occurs in Mayurbhanj. Similarly, Delhi IMD Researcher Soma Singh Ray and Umashankar Das of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Department gave their speech through online mode. Vice Chairman of Baripada Municipal Council Mrs. Seema Das, praised  this programme. Programme Coordinator of University NSS, Dr. Shubhendu Das made some suggestions for the promotion and dissemination of this programme. Mr. Shubhendu Satapathy, Assistant Professor at the University Social Work Department, delivered the vote of thanks at the end. Kanika Bose, State Coordinator of CROSPY, played a major role in the successful implementation of this programme. The workshop was attended by members of different Mission Shaktis of Mayurbhanj, NSS coordinators of various affiliated Colleges,  University faculty members, NSS volunteers and students.