10. What is cyclone Fani? How did Fani get its name? How did this cyclo
riginate? What emergency measures had been taken by the government?
Answers
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other states with their coastlines hugging the Bay of Bengal are bracing up for Cyclone Fani to make a landfall. Cyclone Fani (pronounced as Foni) is gaining strength over southeast Bay of Bengal and will soon develop into an "extremely severe cyclonic" storm.
The name for this cyclone was suggested by Bangladesh. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has devised a mechanism where countries submit a list of names from time to time. Names of cyclones are chosen from this pool.
For tropical cyclones developing in the North Indian Ocean, countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan and Thailand send their names to the regional tropical cyclone committee.
At present, all eight countries have submitted eight names each for naming future cyclones. The name Fani was chosen from this list containing 64 names.
The word Fani (pronounced as Foni) means snake.
Last year Cyclone Titli hit Andhra Pradesh and parts of Odisha. This cyclone was named by Pakistan. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi caused severe damage in Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu. Its name was given by Bangladesh.
The names given by India are: Agni, Akash, Bijli, Jal, Lehar, Megh, Sagar and Vayu.
How countries select names:
While selecting names for cyclones, countries have to take care that the word is easily understood by people in the region, hence the names are generally familiar words.
"The main purpose of naming a tropical cyclone is basically for people to easily understand and remember the tropical cyclone in a region, thus to facilitate tropical cyclone disaster risk awareness, preparedness, management and reduction," WMO says in its explanation of how cyclones are named.
Another important reason why cyclones are named is to help authorities quickly identify storms and keep a track of them because it is easier to remember cyclones by their names than remembering them using technical information like longitude and latitude.
Besides this, naming cyclones also helps media in reporting warning related to the approaching cyclone.
The WMO says that experience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error.
"These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases and ships at sea," it explains.
Navy, Coast Guard on standby
Meanwhile, the government has alerted the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard and local authorities to be prepared when Cyclone Fani makes a landfall.
cyclone fani was the strongest tropical cyclone in state Odissa. It's name was Sguested by Bangladesh.