New Delhi, September 22
For thousands of victims of the cyclone that devastated Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning, it was no “ Pyarr”. The cyclone wreaked havoc with strong winds and heavy rain lashing the region and taking a heavy toll of human life and property.

But interestingly, meteorologists had christened the cyclone “Pyarr”, hoping perhaps that giving such a name would help in taming its fury to some extent.

Like their counterparts in the West, meteorologists here have also now taken on the responsibility of naming cyclones that lash the North Indian Ocean region periodically.

The nomenclature practice, prevalent in the West since the beginning of the 20th century, started as late as last year in the country.

So, while a wise man might have said what is there in a name, as per met officials, naming a cyclone gives it a certain recognition as several cyclones, find a mention in history booked because of the large-scale destruction they cause. Assigning a name, rather than a number or the date, makes it easier to track and remember a particular cyclone.

“Cyclones,” says a spokesperson of the National Centre for Medium Range Forecast, Mr Akhilesh Gupta, “are assigned names to identify them in a specific way and connect its entire history.”

In fact, an international body by the name of Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre, located right within the Indian Meteorological Department in Delhi, has the responsibility of christening all cyclones that hit India, Pakistan, Oman, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand in the North Indian Ocean region, every year.

Like the hurricanes Rita and Katrina, that wreaked havoc in the Atlantic recently, all storms that hit anywhere in the world, are assigned names by regional meteorological centres in the USA, India, Japan, Australia and Madagascar for their respective areas in the beginning of the year.

While nowadays cyclones are assigned names rather arbitrarily, earlier this was not the case. As per Dr Gupta, all this nomenclature business has an interesting historical context. “Hurricanes in the beginning of the century were deadly and notorious and were usually named after politicians. When objections were raised by those concerned, during the World War-II, Army and Navy meteorologists started naming tropical cyclones after their girlfriends and wives. This too led to severe criticism. In 1979, the US Natural Weather Service and the World Meteorological Organisation developed a systematic way of naming cyclones in the beginning of the year, alternating male and female names, arranged in an alphabetical order.”

However, for countries in the Indian Ocean region, there was no procedure for naming the cyclones till last year as no consensus could be arrived upon regarding the names due to sensitivities of people and religions. Following a meeting in 2003, it was decided to name cyclones after abstract bodies, like “ Agni”, “Vayu” and “Baaz”, so that no religion or person was hurt. Incidentally, the name of a major cyclone is never repeated.