The cyclone Nilofar has been attracting attention all over the media not only because of its impending catastrophic effects but also the name has stirred a great deal of conversation.. From the Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Durrani to a number of Twitterattis, the name Nilofar has given everyone something to comment about.
Nilofar is essentially a Persian word for the flower Lotus or Water Lily. This leads to the question as to why the name of such a delicate flower was used for a cyclone that is threatening to hit three major countries, Pakistan, India and Oman?
Pakistan Meteorological Department says that the name Nilofar for the cyclone was suggested by Pakistan as part of the World Meteorological Organizations (WMO) body for North Indian Ocean/Arabian Ocean. Other member countries of the body are Oman, Srilanka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and Thailand.
As part of the WMO body, each country is asked to give eight names for the cyclones in the future. These names are then given to the storms, as they hit shores, from six alphabetically arranged lists on rotation. Interestingly enough, all names except one submitted by Pakistan, are feminine names like Nargis, Vardah, Nilam, Bulbul, Titli and the current one Nilofar.
Ironically, none of these names represent anything furious or asociates with the destruction that these cyclones bring with them.
Earlier on, the names given to the storms were either numbers or technical terms that only meteorologists understood. This created confusion for the people in general and made it difficult to create awareness in case of emergencies.
With regards to these names, an official of India Meteorological Departments says, “All tropical cyclones are given names only to ensure easy communication between weather forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, cyclone watch and warnings. Since the storms can often last a week or longer and more than one can be occurring in the same basin at the same time, names can reduce the confusion about what storm is being described.”
