Death from lightning strikes decreased by nearly 40 percent in 2012 compared with the year before, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Keo Vy, the deputy director of the committee’s press department, said the dramatically lower level was due to mid-year droughts in several provinces, which meant less rainfall and a lower frequency of strikes.

“Droughts happened in mid-June until the third week of August in 2012, so lightning strikes decreased,” Vy said.

In 2012, lightning killed 103 people and injured 71, compared with about the same amount of injuries and 165 deaths in the previous year.

The fewer human deaths also coincided with far less devastation of livestock. In 2011, lightning strikes killed 60 cattle, but only 34 died last year.  

The majority of strikes happened in rural areas, Vy said, adding that most of the victims were in Pursat province, followed by 11 strikes in Prey Veng province, and 10 in the provinces of Kampong Cham and Banteay Meanchey.

Despite the lower amount of lethal strikes, Vy urged all people to take the necessary shelter and precautions when the rainy season starts back up.