2012
DOI: 10.7196/samj.5219
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Lightning medicine in South Africa

Abstract: At any moment, about 2 000 thunderstorms occur worldwide, producing about 100 lightning strikes each second or 8 million strikes each day. Excluding incidental catastrophes and disasters, lightning causes more deaths than any other natural event or phenomenon, 1 claiming about 24 000 lives each year. It is also estimated that some 240 000 people a year will survive a lightning strike. Lightning poses a risk to people, animals, plants and industrial systems. Its damaging characteristics are primarily due to the… Show more

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Cited by 20 publications
(10 citation statements)
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“…I have applied 20 this descriptive but rather cumbersome name to a fascinating condition of the cornea first described in mahwurished South African Bantu children by Blumenthal. 23 As far as I know it has not been reported outside Africa. I did not see it during my 5 years in India and in other Asian and Central American count.ries.…”
Section: • Discrete Colliquative Keratopathymentioning
confidence: 98%
“…I have applied 20 this descriptive but rather cumbersome name to a fascinating condition of the cornea first described in mahwurished South African Bantu children by Blumenthal. 23 As far as I know it has not been reported outside Africa. I did not see it during my 5 years in India and in other Asian and Central American count.ries.…”
Section: • Discrete Colliquative Keratopathymentioning
confidence: 98%
“…As such, research on lightning activity has received renewed interest as global warming is expected to rise, which could intensify convection and thunderstorms [ 5 ], leading to more lightning [ 6 ]; this is a serious concern for countries at high risk for lightning. Given its complex nature, a better understanding of lightning’s effects on natural and built environments, particularly on lightning-vulnerable societies, require multidisciplinary knowledge and expertise, including climatology, engineering and social sciences [ 7 ]. This complexity has enabled researchers to probe and monitor various aspects of lightning repercussions [ 8 ], but in this study, we restricted our focus to a community’s risk perceptions that are directly related to lightning activity over a lightning-prone region of South Africa.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…South Africa exhibits high rates of lightning-induced deaths (averaging 200 per annum), placing it as the third-highest country in the world after India and the USA [ 9 ]. The country’s mortality rate is said to be four times higher than the global average [ 7 ], with more deaths recorded in rural settings. In most areas with high lightning-related deaths and injuries, people are commonly affected as they shelter under perilous structures [ 10 ].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Forecasting cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning is extremely important, as it is one of the leading causes of convective weather‐related deaths around the world [ Holle , ; Holle et al ., ; Curran et al ., , ; Lopez and Holle , , ], especially in developing countries as populations increase and where knowledge of the hazards of lightning is less understood [ Blumenthal et al ., ; Blumenthal , ; Van Olst , ]. A goal for the science and operational communities is toward developing a predictive capability for CG lightning, which is accurate within some limits determined by a particular end user [ Heitkemper et al ., ].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%