News Flash
SANGSAD BHABAN, April 27, 2026 (BSS)- Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu has said the government is committed to implement a long term action plan aiming to reducing the damages and loss of lives due to the lightning across the country.
“The government is working to implement a long term, scientific and sustainable action plan aiming to reduce the causalities due to lightning.”
The minister said this in a statement which was given in the parliament following a ruling party lawmaker Kamruzzaman Kamrul of Sunamganj-1 raised an urgent public important notice under section 71 of the rules of procedure at the Jatiya Sangad here with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed in the chair.
Dulu said the government already has announced the lightning as the national disaster as Bangladesh is among nine disaster prone countries in the world.
Lightning has become a horrific natural disaster for the last several years particularly at the haor and north-eastern areas of the country, said the minister.
To face the disaster, he said the government has taken some initiatives which includes raising awareness, arrangement of safe spots, siren, plantation of palm tree and installation of tower for saving the people during the lightning.
The government will install strong inhibitor as according to the research findings that the lightning can be prevented through installing high intensity inhibitor.
The government has taken a policy to provide compensation to the farmers for losing their livestock.
On Monday, at least 14 people were killed after lightning hit several parts of the country, as the seasonal phenomenon swept the country.
The deaths were reported from several districts after sudden storms brought heavy rain and intense lightning.
Most of the victims were farmers working in open fields and labourers caught in exposed areas, local authorities said. Several other people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, with some in critical condition.
Lightning kills hundreds of people every year in Bangladesh, which declared lightning a natural disaster in 2016 after more than 200 people died in the month of May alone, including 82 people on a single day.
Experts say the rise in fatal lightning strikes is linked to deforestation, which has led to the disappearance of many tall trees that previously helped draw lightning away from people.
Lightning-related fatalities are common during the pre-monsoon months of April to June, when rising heat and humidity create unstable weather conditions.
