Lightning environment in Burundi

This paper presents preliminary studies on the lightning accident details in Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa. The reported lightning incident record in 2012 and 2013 depicts that there are 52 human deaths, 94 human survivals with injuries and 40 deaths of livestock. Makamba province rec...

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Main Authors: Nibigira, Edward, Gomes, Chandima
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Published: 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32577/
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author Nibigira, Edward
Gomes, Chandima
author_facet Nibigira, Edward
Gomes, Chandima
author_sort Nibigira, Edward
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper presents preliminary studies on the lightning accident details in Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa. The reported lightning incident record in 2012 and 2013 depicts that there are 52 human deaths, 94 human survivals with injuries and 40 deaths of livestock. Makamba province recorded the highest human casualties with 14 deaths and 69 injuries whereas Nyanza-Lac commune of the same province topped the list with 8 deaths and 52 injuries. The statistics do not justify the 1:10 ratio of death : injury as it is reported in USA. The statistics may be a gross underestimation as many lightning accidents are not reported due to lack of communication, especially in the rural areas. Gomes-Kadir equation estimates the death rate as 52 per year, a figure twice as high as that was observed in this study. The analysis of information for incidents over few more years reveals that seeking shelter under ungrounded metal-roofed buildings is extremely dangerous as multiple deaths may occur in the event of a lightning strike to the roof.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T09:15:29Z
format Conference or Workshop Item
id upm-32577
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T09:15:29Z
publishDate 2014
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-325772015-07-07T07:24:19Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32577/ Lightning environment in Burundi Nibigira, Edward Gomes, Chandima This paper presents preliminary studies on the lightning accident details in Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa. The reported lightning incident record in 2012 and 2013 depicts that there are 52 human deaths, 94 human survivals with injuries and 40 deaths of livestock. Makamba province recorded the highest human casualties with 14 deaths and 69 injuries whereas Nyanza-Lac commune of the same province topped the list with 8 deaths and 52 injuries. The statistics do not justify the 1:10 ratio of death : injury as it is reported in USA. The statistics may be a gross underestimation as many lightning accidents are not reported due to lack of communication, especially in the rural areas. Gomes-Kadir equation estimates the death rate as 52 per year, a figure twice as high as that was observed in this study. The analysis of information for incidents over few more years reveals that seeking shelter under ungrounded metal-roofed buildings is extremely dangerous as multiple deaths may occur in the event of a lightning strike to the roof. 2014 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed Nibigira, Edward and Gomes, Chandima (2014) Lightning environment in Burundi. In: 2014 International Conference on Lightning Protection (ICLP), 13-17 Oct. 2014, Shanghai, China. (pp. 1055-1058). 10.1109/ICLP.2014.6973323
spellingShingle Nibigira, Edward
Gomes, Chandima
Lightning environment in Burundi
title Lightning environment in Burundi
title_full Lightning environment in Burundi
title_fullStr Lightning environment in Burundi
title_full_unstemmed Lightning environment in Burundi
title_short Lightning environment in Burundi
title_sort lightning environment in burundi
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32577/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/32577/