Death by lightning, but Google Alert can save! How?
2 min read
Kolkata: Just a few hours apart, the arrival of the Cumulonimbus thunderbolt cloud in the sky and its cost is 32 lives. However, this is not the first such incident last week. Over the past few years, the state and the city of Kolkata have witnessed such incidents. But in the age of smartphones, it is possible to save ourselves from this incident. What? That’s what we were talking about today with Shaunak Das, a Google local guide from Srirampur. Who has been invited to Google headquarters several times and has seen the activity with this.
On June 3, 2014, Google launched an online alert service. Named “Google Public Alert”, Google launched the feature for free in 11 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Colombia, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Mexico, where storms, floods and earthquakes occur. People can be informed in advance. Unfortunately, India was not on that list.
It has been observed that all schools and universities in the United States are covered by the “Google public alert service”, where alerts are sent by phone or email as soon as lightning strikes. However, apart from Google, there are several private apps available in the Play Store, where you can easily find some apps by searching by typing Lightning Alert. Spark, EarthNetworks.com, LightningMaps.org, Blitzortung Lightning Monitor – examples of several such apps. Note that a few years ago, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology launched an app called “Damini” which can be used to alert people by sending an alert just 30 to 45 minutes before a thunderstorm anywhere in India.
In states like West Bengal in India, many people have smart phones in their hands today. Needless to say, having a lightning alert app like this will easily save some lives by sending advance warnings. Shaunak said it was time for the administration to think about creating some domestic apps with the help of the Meteorological Department to make it easier for people in the state to use such apps.
