The monsoon season brings with itself disastrous floods, landslides and thunderstorms in Nepal. This leads to the question whether or not casualties resulting from thunderstorms in Nepal are due to lack of awareness in taking preventive measures.

“Last year more people died due to thunderstorms in Nepal than floods and landslides,” says Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist, Jwala Pandey. Lightning constitutes the second largest number of deaths caused by natural calamities in the nation, after earthquakes. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs more than 100 people die every year due to thunderstorms in Nepal. Thunderstorm fatality rate in Nepal is the highest in South Asia with the southern part of the country receiving frequent thunderstorms, especially in the monsoon season.

Thunderstorm density in Nepal, is least in the Himalayan region followed by the hilly region and occurs frequently in the southern plains. A research, ‘ Lightning threats in Nepal: occurrence and human impacts’ conducted through the incorporation of recent country data in the year 2021 mentions that the thunderstorm season in Nepal begins in March and ceases by August.

The study reveals that during the monsoon season ( June – August ) thunderstorms are observed at the highest level in Nepal with an average of 468,705 strokes per year. Although thunderstorms are mostly concentrated in the southern region of Nepal, the fatalities in the southern plains are less than half of the hilly region.