While another life has been lost to vagaries of weather in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the role of Meteorological Department becomes crucial to save human lives from the inclement weather conditions and extreme happenings due to natural occurrences as the officials have state of art facilities to forecast weather conditions precisely. Reportedly, a man was killed after he was struck by lightning in Poonch District. Though in this case, the nature didn’t give any chance to the victim to save his life but as far as Met Department is concerned it can save many lives by giving information about inclement weather conditions beforehand as its branch has given the same to Shikarwallahs and tourists to refrain from venturing outside for a day or two as strong winds and gale, and thunderstorms are likely to hit the Valley and other parts of the Union Territory. This is a noble job to save lives as in the past many accidents had been caused due to storms. In the unfortunate Poonch incident, the man was at his home when natural lightning struck and he fell unconscious. He was taken to hospital but the doctors on duty declared him dead. In this context, many parts of Jammu and Kashmir received rain while the aforesaid department has predicted more “intermittent” showers and thunderstorms till May 24. This is the time when the Met Department can play a vital role by publicizing the weather forecast well in time especially for places having hilly and difficult terrain as chances of landslides, mudslides and other catastrophes are more in such places as seen in the cases in the past. The people should also be informed about the precautions which they have to take during the time of inclement weather as many a time lives can be saved by following the precautions. Every year strong winds used to cause accidents in world famous Dal Lake as Shikaras overturned causing injuries and even deaths of tourists who are not used to handling such emergencies therefore Met Department’s advisories are of great significance in making things safer in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
