Abstract
Abstract. A database of lightning-related fatalities and injuries in Turkey was constructed by collecting data from the Turkish State Meteorological Service, newspaper archives, European Severe Weather Database, and the internet. The database covers January 1930 to June 2014. In total, 742 lightning incidents causing human fatalities and injuries were found. Within these 742 incidents, there were 895 fatalities, 149 serious injuries, and 535 other injuries. Most of the incidents (89 %) occurred during April through September, with a peak in May and June (26 and 28 %) followed by July (14 %). Lightning-related fatalities and injuries were most frequent in the afternoon. Most of the incidents (86 %) occurred in rural areas, with only 14 % in the urban areas. Approximately, two thirds of the victims with known gender were male. Because of the unrepresentativeness of the historical data, determining an average mortality rate over a long period is not possible. Nevertheless, there were 31 fatalities (0.42 per million) in 2012, 26 fatalities (0.35 per million) in 2013, and 25 fatalities (0.34 per million) in 2014 (as of June). There were 36 injuries (0.49 per million) in each of 2012 and 2013, and 62 injuries (0.84 per million) in 2014 (as of June).
Highlights
Lightning is responsible for an estimated 24 000 fatalities and 240 000 injuries every year globally (Holle and Lopez, 2003)
In the USA (1959–2006) 101.2 people per year on average die due to lightning, a number that has decreased over time to about 45 per year by 2006 (Ashley and Gilson, 2009)
There are numerous difficulties that affect the compilation of such report-based data sets, having these databases and related statistics is a necessity for each country for risk assessment
Summary
Lightning is responsible for an estimated 24 000 fatalities and 240 000 injuries every year globally (Holle and Lopez, 2003). In Canada, 9–10 lightning-related deaths and 92–164 injuries occur every year (Mills et al, 2008). In the UK there were 2 fatalities per year on average for the period of 1988– 2012 (Elsom and Webb, 2014). Average fatality per year was 230 in Mexico for the period of 1979–2011 (Raga et al, 2014). There are numerous difficulties that affect the compilation of such report-based data sets (e.g. data collection, population density distributions, socio-economic factors, telecommunication facilities), having these databases and related statistics is a necessity for each country for risk assessment
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