Noting the approach of the wet season, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday warned the public to take safety measures to avoid being struck by lightning. The prime minister’s remarks followed six lightning deaths that occurred in two separate incidents in Pursat province on Monday.
“Be careful continually with fire and lightning. This year the lightning is quite cruel. So we have to be careful. All the metal materials have to be removed from the body. This is one protection,” Mr Hun Sen said, while speaking at the inauguration of a new sewage system in Siem Reap city.
“When the rains come, people should search for a proper place” to take shelter, he said, adding the lightning danger would increase soon as the rainy season starts in mid May.
Keo Vy, deputy director of information and relations at the National Committee for Disaster Management, said a working group at the NCDM had begun measures to educate the public on how to avoid being struck by lightning.
Mr Vy said 11 people had been killed by lightning so far this year, adding he thought this number was lower than the number of victims during the same period last year, which he said stood at more than 20 before rising to 140 by the end of last year.
“We provide educational posters and the working group is going into the villages. We educate people on the ways they can protect themselves from lightning. When there is rain, thunder and wind, people should get out of open areas, like fields, and find a proper place to stay,” he said, adding people also needed to switch off any electrical appliances as a storm approaches.
Mr Vy said however, there was a limit to what officials could do to prevent lightning deaths, adding, “People sometimes get struck by lightning, although they are in the house.”
The six people killed in Pursat province on Monday had all taken shelter in houses when they were struck by lightning.
