Lightning is the killer natural force that caused the most deaths in 2021: report

• Lightning killed more than 2,800 people in India in 2021, which is 40% of the total deaths due to natural forces.
• The overall number of deaths due to natural forces saw a decline in 2021 as compared to 2020.
• However, the rate of accidental deaths increased in 2021 and Maharashtra had the most such deaths.

The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report reveals that more than 2,800 people died due to lightning in India in 2021. That’s 40% of the total deaths caused by natural forces.

Lightning was the dominant factor which caused 94% of deaths by natural forces in Chhattisgarh. This figure was at over 80% in both Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. Karnataka too ranked high at 78.6%.

The year of 2021 saw many floods in Kerala, Maharashtra and it resulted in 656 deaths.

Out of 7,126 people who lost their lives in 2021 due to natural forces, 9.2% of them died in floods, while 8.7% died due to exposure to cold.

However, the overall number of deaths due to forces of nature like cyclone, tsunami, landslide, lightning, torrential rain and forest fires have actually declined from 7,405 in 2020.

Source: NCRB report

Number of accidental deaths increased overall

The rate of accidental deaths unfortunately increased by 6.2% to 397,530 in 2021 as compared to the year before.

“Accidental deaths due to forces of nature or could be due to deliberate or negligent conduct of human beings, which is termed as other causes of accidental deaths,” says the report.

Maharashtra with a population share of 9.1% has reported the highest number of accidental deaths, contributing nearly a seventh of the total accidental deaths reported in the country.

High rate of accidental deaths was reported from Chhattisgarh followed by Puducherry, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Whereas, Tamil Nadu reported the highest percentage increase by 53.8% in total accidental deaths in 2021 as compared to 2020.

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