Scrolling through the morning papers or glancing at our phone screens, there is one recurring piece of news that never fails to break our hearts: the untimely demise of people struck by lightning. When dark clouds gather, they are supposed to bring the promise of rain and a smile to the farmer’s face. Yet those same clouds no longer bring only peaceful showers. Today, they carry a literal death warrant.
Over the past few years, lightning has cemented its place as one of the most terrifying natural disasters in our country. Statistics paint a grim picture. An average of 300 people die from lightning strikes in Bangladesh every year. Over the last decade and a half, that death toll has crossed a staggering 4,500. What is most alarming is that nearly 70 percent of the victims are marginalised farmers and agricultural labourers. Why do those who brave the sun and rain, shedding their sweat to feed our nation, disproportionately fall victim to nature’s wrath? The answer lies in a complex mix of geographical, scientific, and profoundly human-made factors.
There is a simple scientific principle behind lightning. When clouds form, extreme friction occurs between water vapour and ice crystals, generating massive amounts of static electricity. A negative charge builds up at the bottom of the cloud while a positive charge gathers at the top. When this charge becomes too immense, it seeks to discharge towards the earth, always taking the easiest and shortest path. In other words, it strikes the tallest object in an open space.
Our farmers toil in vast, flat fields. In areas like the haors or beside open marshes, we often cannot see a single tall tree or structure for miles. Standing alone in a massive, empty expanse, the farmer inadvertently becomes the tallest object in the landscape. The immense electrical surge descending from the clouds inevitably finds them. To make matters worse, farmers naturally hold metal tools like sickles, weeders, and hoes. Because metal is highly conductive, the risk of disaster multiplies instantly, allowing the intense electric current to scorch a human body in a fraction of a second.
There used to be a time when the rural landscape of Bangladesh was dotted with tall palm, coconut, and betel nut trees. Planted along the edges of fields, they acted as nature’s own lightning arresters. An unspoken ecological harmony existed in our villages. Lightning would strike the thick, shock-absorbent bark of a palm tree rather than a human being. But driven by greed and a lack of foresight, we have indiscriminately chopped them down to feed the fires of brick kilns or sell them as timber. Vast agricultural lands have been stripped bare of their natural shields. Stripped of this ecological armour, farmers are quite literally working on the edge of death in this season.
The escalating climate crisis has poured fuel on the fire. Global warming is pushing the Earth’s temperature upwards. Environmental scientists warn that for every one-degree Celsius rise in temperature, lightning strikes can increase by 10 to 12 percent. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, leading to more aggressive cloud friction and consequently much stronger and more frequent lightning. While those of us in the cities can simply take cover under concrete roofs when the skies turn violent, the farmers labouring in the open have nowhere to hide.
A cruel coincidence of weather and agricultural cycles also plays a fatal role. In Bangladesh, the intensity of Nor’westers and lightning peaks between April and June. The horror of this season is glaringly evident in recent numbers. By early May 2026, lightning had already claimed at least 72 lives across the country. On May 6 alone, eight people died across six districts. Just weeks prior, late April saw 14 farmers and labourers killed in a single day while harvesting paddy.
This is the exact time when the Boro paddy harvest is in full swing across the vast haors of Sunamganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj and other agricultural hubs. Farmers become desperate to bring home the crop they have nurtured all year. Even when black clouds loom, they refuse to abandon the fields, risking their lives to save the harvest from sudden flash floods. The sheer desperation of poverty and the deep love for their crops force them to stay in the open. When the sole breadwinner of the family dies in a flash of lightning, the entire household is pushed to the brink of starvation, and the entire nation loses a food producer.
From a disaster science and management perspective, tackling this crisis requires a holistic approach blending structural and non-structural preparedness. Non-structural steps involve raising community awareness and empowering local youth to disseminate life-saving knowledge. Farmers need to understand that a darkening sky and distant thunder are immediate cues to seek safety. Structurally, we need a coordinated effort between the government, local socio-environmental organisations and NGOs. When thousands of labourers migrate to the haor regions for the harvest, emergency first aid camps must be established. An injured lightning strike victim can often be saved if CPR is performed timely.
The Bangladesh government officially declared lightning a national disaster in 2016. While a commendable step, effective implementation at the grassroots level remains painfully slow. If the farmer survives, the country survives. Our entire economy and existence lean on their shoulders. Therefore, it is high time we take rapid, science-backed action.
First, we must aggressively plant palm and other tall trees around agricultural lands and enact strict laws to protect them. Tree-planting initiatives must move beyond government ledgers and take root in reality. Second, it is imperative to build concrete shelters at regular intervals across the haors and vast agricultural zones, giving farmers a safe haven for when the sky turns hostile.
Finally, we must leverage modern technology. Projects to install lightning arresters in open fields should be fast-tracked. Simultaneously, early warning SMS alerts must be sent to farmers’ mobile phones. Local information centres, volunteer groups, and even mosque loudspeakers can be utilised to broadcast immediate storm alerts.
Above all, we need a massive wave of public awareness. Survival tactics against lightning should be included in school textbooks and broadcast regularly across all media. We must convince our farmers that no crop is more valuable than their lives. A blend of awareness, ecological care, and the right technology can save our food growers from these premature deaths. Ensuring the safety of our farmers is not just a demand of the times but our collective moral obligation.
AL Sharia is a student at Begum Rokeya University. He can be reached at [email protected].
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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