New Delhi, Nov 11 (Inditop.com) You might not know when the next cyclone will hit northern Indian Ocean, but you can be sure it will be called Ward and after that it will be Laila.
Cyclones derive their names through a systematic procedure laid down by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Cyclone Phyan, likely to hit the western coast of India later Wednesday was named by Myanmar. The next to hit countries in the north Indian Ocean region will be called Ward – a name given by Oman. And the one after that will be Laila, named by Pakistan.
Eight north Indian Ocean countries – Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand – have prepared a list of 64 names. Met officials in fact have decided the names of cyclones till 2009-end.
“It’s better to give an identity to the cyclones as the main purpose of naming one cyclone is basically for people to easily understand and remember it in a region. And to facilitate tropical cyclone disaster risk awareness, preparedness, management and reduction,” D. Chakrabarthi, additional director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told Inditop.
“When a hurricane hits these countries, the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC), housed in the IMD office in New Delhi, picks up the name next on the list. The RSMC has been set up in Delhi by the WMO for forecasting tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal,” he said.
Since 2004, the eight countries have faced 20 cyclones.
The countries take turns in naming the cyclones. The last six were: Nargis (Pakistan), Rashmi (Sri Lanka), Khai-Muk (Thailand), Nisha (Bangladesh), Bijli (India) and Aila (Maldives).
“It is important to note that tropical cyclones are not named after any particular person, or with any alphabetical sequence preference. The names selected are those that are familiar to the people in each region,” said Chakrabarthi.
M. Mohapatra, director of cyclone division of the IMD, said: “All these countries meet once in two years and review the progress of cyclones and how many cyclones there were. Every country reports its assessment of the cyclones and then they arrive at a mutual plan of action, which includes creation of a database for the names to be given to tropical cyclones.”
“We have around 39 names right now. Once a name is used it cannot be used again for another cyclone,” said Mohapatra.
The practice of naming cyclones began because names are far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms.
In the 1970s, the WMO in Geneva asked some countries around the Pacific Ocean to prepare a list of names and keep it ready.
However, in the north Indian Ocean countries the naming of cyclones began in September 2004 following a meeting of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones in 2000.
