On 20 and 21 September 2017, 28 people were killed in lightning strikes in different parts of the country including Rangpur, Bogra, Rajshahi, Natore and Tangail. One of them was working in the backyard. Someone was going by boat on the river. Another died of lightning inside the tin house. A few months ago, about 85 people were killed in Dhaka and other parts of the country during the Kalbaishakhi season. The death of so many people in lightning strikes every year worries everyone. Rather less in our country. Venezuela in South America is known as the country of more terrible lightning. Thunderstorms occur on the banks of the Catatumbo River in the country's Julia State for about 300 days out of 365 days of the year. For this reason, the area has become known in the world as the 'Capital of Lightning'. NASA has announced that it is the 'capital of lightning'.
The reason for so much lightning there is the formation of land in that area. Lake Maracaibo is surrounded by the Andes Mountains in the south and the Caribbean Sea in the north. The collision of cold mountain air and hot air of the sea and lake creates the ideal environment for lightning.
Not only humans but also animals die. At least 323 deer (reindeer) were killed in a lightning strike in a mountain valley in Norway on August 26 this year. Scientists have done research on this. They were grazing in the open desert. They gather together for fear of storms and lightning. Lightning strikes the ground first, and the electric charge rises with the deer's two legs on one side and goes back to the ground with the other. This electric current kills the deer.
What is the secret of lightning? The extra charge of electricity is stored in the clouds of the sky and once it falls to the ground with a loud noise and is combined with the opposite charge, it becomes inactive. Lightning strikes tall trees or buildings. This is because the charge stored in the cloud tends to combine with the opposite charge at the shortest distance and in the shortest time.
So if there are frequent thunderstorms during storms and rains, you will not be in a boat in the open desert or river outside. Because, at that time you are the highest place in the open desert, the place where lightning can choose. You will have the highest risk of lightning, because you are the tallest object there! So it is safe to stay indoors at this time. Of course there is talk. Small tin sheds will not work. Must be a little bigger home. Then even if lightning strikes the house, it will be easily attached to the ground through tin sheds and brick walls, you will not be harmed. That is why the city has earthing system around tall buildings. One end of the electrically conductive copper wire is buried deep in the ground, the other end is on the roof, in the shape of an eyeball. This protects the building and the people of the house from lightning. In the village, tall betel and coconut trees are planted around the house, so that when lightning strikes, the house is protected.
There is a superstition that the body of a person killed in a lightning strike contains precious stones, so some miscreants steal the body. Relatives guard the grave. In fact lightning is not an object that will fall from the sky. It's just an electric charge. Lightning has nothing to do with precious stones. Again, many believe that there is something supernatural in the bones of a person who has been struck by lightning. They can be used for witchcraft. These are all nonsense. Death by electric short circuit is the same as death by lightning. If a person dies after coming in contact with an electric wire, if no precious stone is found in his body, if his bones cannot be bewitched, then why should all these things be said about a person who died in a lightning strike? These are all superstitions.
