State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman on Monday said the government plans to build lightning resistant concrete shelters to prevent casualties from lightning strikes in the country. A project has been taken to establish such shelters in 23 lightning prone districts including the Haor regions, he said. The state minister was speaking at a seminar on ‘Causes of Lightning & Thunder: Safety Issues and Damage Minimization’ at the city's IEB building. Also read: 2,800 lost lives in lightning strikes in 10 years: Dr Enamur “At first 1,000 concrete shelters will be built after every 1 kilometre in Haor areas so that the farmers can immediately take shelters during lightning strikes while working in fields,” He said it’s not possible to stop lightning but to reduce the death rate from it the government is focusing on three things. “First one is an early warning system that will alert the people in lightning prone areas 40 minutes in advance before a strike. A total of 723 early warning system devices will be installed on a primary basis,” said Enamur. Second is the concrete shelters and third is creating mass awareness, he said. Also read: Panchagarh: 1 killed, 4 injured as lightning strikes tea stall The initiative only covers the rural areas as people working in open fields or places are more prone to die by lightning strikes, he said. According to government data, lightning strikes — electric discharges between the atmosphere and the ground — have killed about 2,800 people in the last 11 years in Bangladesh.

The government is going to build one relief warehouse in 500 upazilas across the country to speed up relief distribution during any natural disaster. 

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman on Monday said that the government is going to purchase rescue equipment worth Tk 2,200 crore to fight against different natural disasters.