Bhubaneswar: With thunderstorms wreaking havoc and claiming many lives in Odisha during the last couple of months, the State Government is planning to develop a smartphone application in order to disseminate early warnings regarding possible lightning strikes in specific areas.

Informing about this, Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi today said that users of the application will be able to receive alerts one hour before lightning strikes in a particular area.

Non-smartphone users can receive SMS alerts through this system, the SRC said.

The Odisha Government has decided to rope in Earth Networks, a USA based organization, to detect precise location of areas likely to be affected by lightning strikes before 45 minutes of the occurrence. The aim of the move is to reduce death toll due to the nature’s fury.

Notably, lightning has become a major natural disaster in Odisha that claims more than 400 human lives on an average per year. In comparison with other natural calamities that cause more economic losses, the death toll due to lightning is much higher in the state.