Leader in drive to buy Lightning conductors for School

Bushenyi

Leaders in Bushenyi have launched a campaign for installing lightning arrestors to protect lives and property following recent incidents where lightning struck two schools in the district.

Eight pupils of Buramba Primary School in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality were killed by lightning, 17 others and a teacher injured last week. Early this month, lightning struck Bunyarigi Primary School in the Bushenyi Municipality injuring six pupils.

The drive, dubbed ‘Lightning Arrestors Campaign’ was launched on Friday at Buramba during the requiem service for the deceased. The LC5 chairperson, Mr Willis Bashaasha, appealed to the leaders to “wake up” and start forging ways of helping people because they are voted and appointed to serve people, protect their lives and property.

Urged to act
“We cannot sit and wait for the government to give us everything. We are the government,” Mr Bashaasha said. The campaign kicked off with a fundraising where Shs2 million was collected to buy an arrestor for Buramba Primary School.

Mr Bashaasha said the drive will continue until all public places install lightning arrestors.
Bushenyi-Ishaka MP Odo Tayebwa said the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness would help families that lost their children.

Presiding over the requiem service, the Rt Rev. Yona Mwesigwa Katoneene, the Bishop of West Ankole Diocese, said the public should repent of negligence and look for aggressive ways to avoid such tragedies. He pledged spiritual and financial support to the campaign.

STATEMENT BY ACLE FOUNDING DIRECTOR ON RECENT LIGHTNING DEATHS IN KENYA AND UGANDA

The dreadful tragedies of eight school children killed and 23 injured by lightning in one incident in Uganda on July 24 and the two school children killed in Kenya this week remind us of the thousands of people who are killed every year across Africa by lightning and other weather hazards.  The African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics (ACLE) headquartered at Makerere University Business School was formed to decrease these tragedies by giving public safety and injury prevention education, mounting warning systems, providing graduate education to train lightning and weather experts for Africa, pressing for lightning protection in schools and other vital public buildings, training lightning protection specialists and a range of other activities.  National Centres in countries across Africa act as partners in this effort utilizing their particular regional and local knowledge, personnel and talents.  

In addition to loss of life, lightning and other weather hazards can cause damage to infrastructure, utility transmission, electronics, oil and gas installations and other equipment that is vital to day-to-day life as well as to the greater development of the economies of Africa.  Beyond the immediate effect, there is ‘‘down-time’ and loss of productivity, cost of equipment replacement and repair, loss of data and records, and other retarding effects on economic activity.  For individuals, families, and small businesses, it may include food spoilage, loss of employment time and profit.

ACLE proposes to participate in the Lake Victor Basin Commission call for projects by forming partnerships with weather detection companies, national and local meteorological programs, telecommunications programs and others to provide weather warnings to people living near and depending on Lake Victoria for their livelihood.  In addition, ACLE proposes to work with media and educators to disseminate lightning safety information, collect data on injuries and to use the data to study the effectiveness of any interventions to determine ‘best practices’ that may be effective for other venues. 

ACLE looks forward to contributing to the safety and wellbeing of the people of Africa, allowing them greater security in which to raise their families and pursue their work as well as to contribute to the growing prosperity of the African business and technological communities.   

Prof. Emerita MaryAnn Cooper

Lightning kills 8 pupils in Uganda- public reactions

PUPILS, teachers, parents and the neighbours of Buramba Primary School in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, were on Thursday (24th July 2014) evening left in shock, after lightning struck eight pupils to death and left 23 critically injured.
The shocking incident happened at 4:45 PM during a simple drizzle, as the pupils were in class for evening lessons at the school.

 It is reported that Lightning had struck another school, Bunyarigi Primary School, in the same area, 14 days prior to this tragic incident, but there were no reported casualties due to the school having lightning conductors installed on their classrooms.

Below are some of the reactions by some of the prominent locals to the incident : (translated to English from the original language used)

Bishop for the Diocese: "This has been an eye opener to us because we have not been minding about installing the metals that arrest Lightning. God will protect all the pupils and parents going forward"

MP Ishaka Municipality: "I have spoken with the minister for disaster preparedness, and I will prepare a report and take it to his office to see if there are ways we can support the families."

Education Officer Ishaka Municipality: "It's been less than 2 weeks since lightning struck Bunyarigi (primary school), and now see what has happened here. I can assure the parents that we will not allow this to happen again"

School Headmistress: "We have been struck by lightning, because even the other pupils are afraid and have not reported back to school. I request parents not to abandon the school, and send pupils back. We plead with all who can support us to raise money to buy Lightning arrestors"

Lightning kills 8 pupils in Uganda

PUPILS, teachers, parents and the neighbours of Buramba Primary School in Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality, were on Thursday evening left in shock, after lightning struck eight pupils to death and left 23 critically injured.
The shocking incident happened at 4:45 PM during a simple drizzle, as the pupils were in class for evening lessons at the school.
According to the Bushenyi District Police Commander SP Richard Anyama, the lightning struck only P.6 and P.7 classes.
The dead pupils included four girls and four boys and 6 of them were in P.7 while two were in Primary 6.
31 pupils were struck down, of whom 8 died on the spot and 23 were rushed to Kampala International University (KIU) Western Campus in Ishaka Town, where they are being treated.
Anyama confirmed the dead as Guston Mukundamukama P7, Hillary Tusiime (13) P7, Agnes Kyomugisha (14) P.7, Junior Nuwahereza (16) P7, Danson Nuwamanya P7, Grace Ainembabazi (14) P7, Anitah Nuwandita (14) P6 and Confort Akampurira (12) P6.
Efforts to contact the school’s head teacher were futile.
This was the second time it rained in the area in recent days and also for the first time in a number of years in the middle of a dry spell.
On Sunday, a heavy downpour characterized by strong winds and hailstones, destroyed plantations and livestock in the adjacent areas of Nyamitanga, Kyamutiganzi and Irembezi, all in Kyabugimbi sub county in Bushenyi district.

A case of Side flash!

ETOWAH, Ark. (July 3, 2014) Steven Shepherd, 16, died in a hospital after lightning struck him as he stood outside of a church in the Carroll’s Corner community in Arkansas, a sheriff says.
Shepherd was standing next to a tree Tuesday night when a storm began to move in, Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook said.
The boy’s mother was working inside the church with others and began to look for him after noticing he was missing.
The teenager was found lying face down next to a tree that had been struck by lightning.
He was taken to the South Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Osceola, where he later died.

Source: http://www.kwtx.com/weather/headlines/Lightning-Strike-Kills-Teen-Standing-Outside-Of-Church-265732061.html

short lightning safety YouTube releases

Hello - I thought you might like to see a couple of short lightning safety
YouTube releases as examples of what can be done and easily transmitted by
Facebook, YouTube, etc. 

If any of you want to modify any of the materials at the website
(www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov) for your country to be in the languages your
country uses and to show situations and people and dress that would be
native to your area or to use, the people at our National Weather Service
(particularly John Jensenius)have worked with many non-US people to provide
the source materials that can be modified for use in your country or region.


Here's a great article based on an interview John Jensenius  (the father of
lightning safety week) recently did.  He focuses on the ones that are
DANGEROUS, not the common but harmless myths:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/debunked-5-lightning-myths-could-k
ill-you-n135971

John's 2013 Lightning Safety Message: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPcgOr24sWY

John's 2014 Lightning Safety Message:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yvhJWUNUs&feature=youtu.be

Lightning Safety website:  www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov

Here's one done by Ryan Blumenthal, MD, from South Africa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTkjlUwdXeo&list=PLxJ8ks5VMybCzbxHc9HVaq4oPs4
jtl-S6&feature=share&index=3



Mary Ann Cooper, MD, Founding Director
African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetism
Professor Emerita, Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Illinois @ Chicago
www.uic.edu/labs/lightninginjury
************************************
    'WHEN THUNDER ROARS, GO INDOORS'
  National Lightning Safety Awareness Week
                  Last full week of June
          www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov
************************************

Research Training Fellowship for Developing Country Scientists (RTF-DCS): Call for Applications for 2014-15

Greetings from the Centre for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre)!!

2.       The NAM S&T Centre invites applications from the scientists, technologists and engineers of the developing countries for the award of the Fellowships under its ‘Research Training Fellowship for Developing Country Scientists (RTF-DCS)’ scheme for the year 2014-15. The RTF-DCS Programme was initiated by the Centre two years ago with full financial support of the Government of India, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and is aimed at capacity building of the developing countries in the fields of Science & Technology through the affiliation of their scientists with the Indian scientific and academic Centres of Excellence.

3.       The salient features of the RTF-DCS programme are as under:-

         (i)    No. of Fellowships: 20

         (ii)   Duration of Fellowship: 6 months

(iii)  Broad Disciplines, in which Fellowship are available: Agricultural Sciences; Biological and Medical Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Earth Sciences; Engineering Sciences; Materials, Minerals and Metallurgy; and Multi-disciplinary & Other Areas.

(iv)  Eligibility Conditions: Scientists/ researchers from any developing country (except India) below 40 years of age, possessing at least a Master’s Degree in any Natural Science subject or equivalent degree in Engineering or Medicine and allied disciplines.

(v)  Financial Terms: Full financial assistance to the Fellows, including (a) round trip international airfare by excursion/economy class, (b) a consolidated monthly Fellowship amount of Indian Rupees (INR) 35,000 [about US$575 at the current exchange rate] (non-taxable) to cover accommodation, meals  and  other miscellaneous expenses and (c) a one-time grant of INR 15,000 [about US$250] for domestic travel, including airport transfers, visiting research institutions, attending scientific events and field-trips within India. The Indian host institutions will also be suitably compensated for their services for implementation of the programme.

4.       Detailed guidelines of the Fellowship scheme are given in the attached Announcement Brochure.

To prepare the proposal, the applicants should carefully study the material available in these guidelines. It is advisable for an applicant to make a prior contact with an institution where work is in progress in the area of interest to the applicant or a concerned Indian scientist, and obtain consent that the applicant, if selected, will be accepted to work in the institution on the proposed research project. A copy of the consent letter should be enclosed with the application. A suggestive list of Indian academic and research institutions has been enclosed with the Announcement, but the applicant is free to contact any other institution in India about which information may be gathered either through Internet search or other means.

However, even if an applicant has not been able to secure such prior consent, the NAM S&T Centre will try to find a suitable matching institution for him/her.

5.       Application should be submitted to the NAM S&T Centre in the prescribed format (enclosed with the Brochure). Only electronic communication will be accepted, therefore filled-in application form and the enclosures should be sent as attachments to an e-mail, after scanning the documents wherever required. Please do not send hard copies of the application.

6.       Selection will be made by an International Selection Committee and will be based on the quality of the research proposal submitted by the applicant, applicant’s academic merit and available slots in the Fellowship scheme.

7.       The last date for submission of completed application form along with required enclosures is Monday, 14^th  July 2014

You are earnestly requested to please widely disseminate this announcement to the concerned researchers and research institutions in your country.



If you are interested, send email to acle@mubs.ac.ug