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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBangladesh has highlighted the urgent need for stronger early warning systems and community preparedness following recent lightning events. Between 26 and 30 April, around 71 people died due to lightning strikes, prompting national level concern regarding risk reduction. Two key events were central to this response: a national roundtable in Sylhet, the most lightning prone region, and workshops organized by Plan International and Prothom Alo, with the active engagement of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Sylhet, the Country Director of Plan International, the Director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, and the Deputy Director of the Department of Disaster Management, reflecting the region\u2019s high exposure to lightning risk. The workshop was attended by meteorologists, directors and deputy directors of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, representatives from BRAC, the United Nations Development Programme, Plan International, and RIMES, officials from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the Department of Disaster Management, university professors and researchers, and experts in disaster risk reduction and early warning systems. These discussions also reflected the growing recognition of lightning as a major seasonal disaster risk in the country, particularly during the pre-monsoon months when atmospheric conditions are most unstable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A key highlight was the contribution of Dr. Fatima Akter<\/em>, Associate Professor, Department of Meteorology, University of Dhaka and steering member of the WWRP PEOPLE Project, who emphasized the important role educational institutions can play in developing effective and practical strategies for disaster risk reduction and community preparedness, stressing the need for clear, community specific guidance and stronger integration of academic engagement into national lightning risk management efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both events brought together government officials, meteorologists, researchers, and community representatives to discuss early warning systems, risk communication, and preparedness measures, with a strong focus on improving early warning dissemination and last mile outreach. Participants emphasized that hearing thunder signals immediate danger and that people should seek safe shelter without delay, underscoring the importance of simple, actionable messaging at community level. Farmers were identified as the most vulnerable group, as many continue working in open fields during storms to protect their crops, making them disproportionately affected by lightning related deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Bangladesh has highlighted the urgent need for stronger early warning systems and community preparedness following recent lightning events. Between 26 and 30 April, around 71 people died due to lightning strikes, prompting national level concern regarding risk reduction. Two key events were central to this response: a national roundtable in Sylhet, the most lightning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"acf":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Fatima Akter","author_link":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/?author=4"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Latest News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u00a0 Bangladesh has highlighted the urgent need for stronger early warning systems and community preparedness following recent lightning events. Between 26 and 30 April, around 71 people died due to lightning strikes, prompting national level concern regarding risk reduction. Two key events were central to this response: a national roundtable in Sylhet, the most lightning…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3150,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions\/3150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wmo-people.du.ac.bd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}