Mitigating the Hazard of Lightning Injury and Death across Africa

Abstract

Lightning injuries, deaths, and the economic consequences of lightning damage to property and infrastructure continue to be a significant public health challenge and economic development issue in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter will discuss the scope of the hazard, known risk factors including common cultural beliefs that inhibit public education, existing data sources, medical effects and long-term disability, lightning formation and detection, injury mechanisms, existing lightning safety programs and their challenges, and the work being done to decrease injuries, death, and property damage from lightning in Africa by the African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics Network (ACLENet).

Towards a Lightning Detection and Warning System in Zambia

“…Holle (2010) determined that 90% of buildings in sub-Saharan Africa have occupants at risk of lightning strikes. The known effects of direct or indirect electromagnetic fields due to lightning strikes are injury to human beings, damage to property or a complete loss of lives and property (Cooper et al 2019a, 2019b, Gomes et al, 2016cand Lubasi et al 2012. Mass casualty incidents due to lightning strikes inside buildings are reported every year in developing countries (Holle 2010 andGomes et al 2016c).…”

Implementation of Ground-Based Lightning Locating System Using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Lightning Mapping and Monitoring

“…The majority of lightning strike-related damage and disruption stems from the rapid discharge of electrical energy in the form of flashes between clouds and the ground. In addition to the damage to properties, many people are killed by the cloudto-ground discharges in the world each year [6][7][8]. These severe negative impacts of CG discharges to people and devices led to the designing of protective systems such as lightning protection systems [1].…”