The name “Tauktae” was given by Myanmar, which means “gecko”, suggesting a highly vocal lizard in Burmese. It is going to be the first cyclonic storm of this year along the Indian coast. Tropical cyclones are officially named by one of its warning centres spread across the globe under the patronage of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
As tropical cyclones can last for a week and more and there can be more than one cyclone at a time. Storms are named so as to avoid confusion by the forecasters. Tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at a regional level. In the Indian Ocean and South Pacific region, tropical cyclones receive names alphabetically, and women and men’s names are alternated.
In 2000, nations in the Northern Indian ocean began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones; the names are listed alphabetically country wise and are neutral gender-wise. The common rule is that the name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members of a specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/biennual sessions.
The WMO/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (WMO/ESCAP) Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) has members from 13 countries – India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Maldives, Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen which decide the name of the cyclone.
The committee, which had 8 members in 2004, had finalised a list of 64 names — eight names from each country. The name Amphan for the cyclone that wreaked havoc in India last year was the last name on that list. The WMO/ESCAP committee expanded the list of members in 2018 to include five more countries. Last year, a new list was released that has 169 names of cyclones, a compilation of 13 suggestions each from 13 countries.
The cyclone’s name from the naming list can be withdrawn by any member of the WMO’s hurricane, typhoon and tropical cyclone committees, if the storm causes a large number of deaths or damages. Then a name replacement is submitted to the committee concerned and voted upon.
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