Lightning Flash in India. Thunderbolt took thousands of lives.

Lightning is a naturally occurring event that releases electrostatic discharge in which two electrically charged areas, either in the atmosphere or on the ground, briefly neutralize each other, resulting in the immediate release of one gigajoule of energy on average.

This discharge may generate a wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, ranging from heat produced by the fast flow of electrons to bright bursts of light waves as black-body radiation.

Thunder is a sound produced by lightning caused by a shock wave that arises when gases in the discharge's region suffer a rapid increase in pressure. During a rainfall last year, four gardeners working at a condo building in Gurgaon, a suburban area close to the Indian capital of Delhi, sought cover under a tree. In a few minutes, an orange flash rushed down the tree, followed by thunderous claps.

Lightning lasts less than a second. A typical lightning strike has a voltage of 300 million volts and a current of 30,000 amps, which is lethal. It has the potential to heat the air surrounding it to two temperatures five times higher than those seen on the sun's surface. The four men collapsed on the ground. Perhaps one of them died while the rest were burned.

The coworker was among over 2,500 Indians who die each year because of lightning strikes. According to government figures, lightning strikes killed over 100,000 individuals in India between 1967 and 2019.

It represents more than a third of casualties caused by natural disasters during this period. Survivors may have complications such as dizziness, weakness, and memory loss.

Three years ago, India's meteorological service began issuing lightning forecasts. Flashes can be tracked via mobile applications. People are warned about the weather via television, radio, and volunteers with megaphones.

Lightning India Resilient Campaign, a three-year-old effort, is working hard to promote awareness and prevent mortality in lightning-prone areas.

According to non-profit research conducted by the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council. India reported over 18 million lightning strikes in the previous year records up to 38% gain than a penultimate year.

Although half-dozen states registered most of the strikes, three states contributed to 70% of the deaths: Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. Farm-workers are the most susceptible to the damage.

Farms, tin-roofs houses, ponds, and thatched cottages dot the landscape of the coastal settlements. Living near the water can be dangerous since cyclonic storms and tidal surges are regular. Lightning is more likely to strike on land, yet usually seen in coastal seas.

Lighting strikes are simply a discharge of electricity triggered mostly by imbalances inside storm clouds. As a result, locals have contributed to raising awareness and reducing lightning deaths in the area by creating low-cost, homemade lightning conductors that transfer the electrical charge to the soil.

According to studies undertaken by the Lightning Resilient India Campaign, the great majority of India’s lighting victims lives in rural and die after seeking cover behind large trees. Tribal members who fish, cultivate, and forage for a living are susceptible. In certain states, the initiative has reduced lightning deaths by 60%.

However, governments lack grassroots-driven safety awareness efforts to reach the most vulnerable populations in hotspots such as farms, forests, the sea, lakes, ponds, beaches, and rivers.

According to scientists, the threat of climate change is causing an increase in lightning activity. Sea surface and rising land temperatures warm the air above, allowing more energy to be released to produce thunderstorms from where lightning strikes.

According to research conducted by experts at the University of California, Berkeley, lightning strikes in the United States might increase by 12% for every degree increase in average temperature. Temperatures in India have risen due to increased urbanization and the reduction of tree cover.

Moisture over water, Heat over land, and aerosols from air pollution contribute to favorable circumstances for thunderclouds to produce lightning. Thunderstorms will become more often as India becomes warmer and more polluted.

By 2022, India hopes to reduce the number of lightning deaths to less than 1,200 per year. During storms, volunteers host awareness camps and advise residents in remote areas to stay indoors and avoid dashing out into open fields to gather grazing cattle. They're warning people not to congregate beneath trees and stay away from power wires and metal fences.

Prevention Tactics and Strategy:

1.      Stay away from the sea and beaches as long as thunder strikes.
2.     If you don't have anywhere to hide, kneel with your feet together with hands-on knees, and head tucked in to make yourself as tiny a target as possible.
3.      Avoid taking cover behind tall or remote trees.
4.      Get away from exposed hilltops and open landscapes.
5.      Seek refuge inside a car or a building.
6.      Install a chemical earthing system to save your appliances and the lives of your family.

Thus Earthing becomes a basic need to outlive through Lightning without any damage. Earthing is the process of sending charges directly to the ground using low resistance wire to cause an immediate discharge of electrical energy. Low resistance earthing wire is selected to provide the least resistance path for leakage of fault current. 

It is a basic method for preventing current leakage and protecting equipment from electrical harm. Grounding is another such safety method that protects the whole power system from failure and is mostly used to unbalance the load whenever the electric system overflows.

The Lightning Arrester aids in the prevention of lightning strikes. It gives the current a low impedance path to the ground. The lightning arrester features a powerful core ion-producing device that produces ions and does not require any external power supply. It operates on the Corona Discharge concept of transferring light.

A zone of plasma creates to facilitate the passage of current in Corona Discharge Technology. It allows the lightning arrester to catch all the lightning's electricity without destroying the target's critical equipment.

When potentially dangerous lightning strikes, the arrester activates and guides the lightning to the ground to dissipate light harmlessly. It is critical to note that an arrester does not halt lightning since doing so would be hazardous.

It reduces and moderates the electrical charge, but the correct phrase is redirected because it gives a safe path for lightning to take rather than going through your critical electrical gadgets.

Conclusion: Thus, installing a Chemical earthing system is an indispensable need in India to save appliances and lives from the faulty current. Most good chemical earthing system kit lasts up to a decade with a low minimum maintenance cost.

Download our catalog to learn more about our world-class Earthing Solutions and Lightning Protection. Renown Earth is well-known for being one of the greatest Earthing producers, serving customers with tremendous passion.

Above all, you can contact us by email or by phone. Our staff will make every attempt to bring excellence to your door.