Bhubaneswar, October 14: A national workshop on Lightning Safety will be held on October 15 and 16 at Hotel Lemon Tree Premier, Bhubaneswar, to discuss scientific, technological and administrative measures for reducing lightning-related deaths and damage.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari will inaugurate the workshop, being organised by the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).

The two-day workshop will bring together experts from leading national scientific and technical institutions, universities, disaster management institutions, researchers and district-level officials to strengthen lightning forecasting, risk assessment, early warning dissemination and community safety.

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The workshop will focus on translating scientific knowledge and technological advances into practical measures that can save lives, particularly among farmers, agricultural labourers, outdoor workers, students and people living in vulnerable areas.

The first day will focus on improving lightning detection, monitoring and forecasting through satellite data integration, numerical weather prediction, emerging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications and panchayat level decision support systems.

Experts from national and state institutions, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian Institute of Technology(Bhubaneswar), Fakir Mohan University, National Institute of Technology(Patna), Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Central University of Jharkhand, CSIR National Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tripura University, Berhampur University, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC) and Cape Electric, will share their knowledge and experience.

The sessions will explore opportunities to improve forecasting accuracy, warning lead time and the use of scientific information for local-level decision-making.

The second day will focus on practical measures to prevent lightning-related deaths and injuries. Key topics will include lightning risk mitigation road map for Odisha, hotspot mapping priorities, risk mapping methodology, farmer risk mapping, lightning protection standards, low-cost lightning shelters and emergency management for lightning strike victims.

A dedicated working session will examine how scientific warnings can be converted into timely and actionable safety messages for farmers, schools, outdoor workers and communities. It will explore the use of SMS, mobile applications, IVRS, sirens, local announcements and community networks to strengthen the last-mile dissemination of warnings.

The workshop will also bring together experts and government representatives to develop a draft Lightning Safety Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and a proposed Action Plan for 2027

The key expected outcome is “Lightning-Safe Odisha: 2027 Action Plan and 2027-2030 Roadmap.”