Cyclone Nivar is the fourth cyclone to hit the North Indian Ocean region in 2020.
Let us talk about the severe storm, the landfall of which commenced on Wednesday night. The name of the severe cyclonic storm is Nivar. Apart from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Odisha and Kerala are also on high alert due to this storm.
2020 has been a very inauspicious year and even with just one month to go until it ends, this year has brought the challenge of a new storm after the coronavirus crisis.
The centre of the cyclone will cross the coast near Puducherry within the next three hours with a wind speed of 120-130kmph gusting up to 145kmph, IMD had said on Wednesday night.
Many districts of Tamil Nadu received heavy rains even before the storm hit. The worst affected by the rains are Chennai, Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram.
19 NDRF teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu. Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have also been alerted due to the storm.
Apart from this, floods have been feared in many cities of South India due to heavy rains. People living near the beaches have been evacuated to safer places.
So far, in Tamil Nadu alone, more than one lakh people have been shifted to relief camps. In Chennai too, people have been advised not to leave the house and a public holiday has been declared.
Cyclone Nivar is the fourth cyclone to hit the North Indian Ocean region in 2020. The name 'Nivar' has been selected from the list of names given by Iran. In the Parsi language, the name 'Nivar' means light. But the storm, approaching in the middle of the night, can also bring darkness.
You must be wondering how the name of a storm can be so beautiful. To know the answer to this question, you have to understand the tradition and rules of naming cyclones.
The tradition of naming storms was first introduced by countries around the Atlantic Sea in the year 1953. But later, a system was created that only those countries, around which the storm is rising, will give it a name.
For the Indian Ocean region, deliberations for naming cyclones began in 2000 and a formula was agreed upon in 2004. Eight countries in the region - Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand - all contributed a set of names. Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen were also added to this list in the year 2018.
According to the first letter of the names suggested from these 13 countries, their order is decided and the names of cyclonic storms are kept in the same order.
In the list of storm names given by all these 13 countries, India has given names like Agni, Akash, Bijli, and Jal.
This time, the name of the storm sent from Iran was to be chosen, so this storm that came in India has been named Nivar.
Now you must be wondering why is there a need to give names to cyclonic storms. But the thinking behind naming storms is that people take warnings more seriously because of the name. It also gets easy for the media to report on stories surrounding cyclones.
However, there are certain conditions for naming storms such that the name should be short and simple, which people can easily speak and understand and no name should be culturally and religiously sensitive.
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