Which one of the following countries has suggested the name 'Amphan' to the cyclone that devastated parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh in May 2020?

Correct — B, Thailand. Cyclone names for the north Indian Ocean come from a list contributed by the member countries of a regional panel, and the name Amphan was Thailand's contribution. It was in fact the last name remaining on the list drawn up in 2004, which is why the India Meteorological Department released a fresh list of names shortly before this storm formed. Amphan struck the coast of West Bengal and then Bangladesh in May 2020.

• (a)Bangladesh — Bangladesh suffered heavily in this storm, and it is a member of the naming panel, but the name it contributed at this point in the sequence was not Amphan. Bangladesh supplied the name of Cyclone Nisarga a fortnight later.
• (c)Maldives — The Maldives is on the panel and contributes names in turn, but not this one.
• (d)India — India names storms too, and did not name this one. A country being the worst affected has no bearing on which country's name comes up next.

The India Meteorological Department is the regional specialised meteorological centre for the north Indian Ocean, so it tracks these systems and assigns the next name from the agreed list when a depression intensifies into a cyclonic storm. The names are contributed in rotation by the panel's member countries and are used strictly in sequence, which is what makes the naming country independent of where the storm lands.

The panel began with eight members and expanded to thirteen with the addition of Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. In April 2020 a new list of one hundred and sixty-nine names was released, thirteen from each member, replacing the exhausted 2004 list. Amphan, a Thai word, was the final name from the older list. The storm made landfall on 20 May 2020 near the Sundarbans as a very severe cyclonic storm and was among the costliest ever recorded in the north Indian Ocean.

• The name Amphan was contributed by Thailand and was the last name on the 2004 list for the north Indian Ocean.
• The India Meteorological Department is the regional specialised meteorological centre for this basin and assigns the names.
• A new list of 169 names, thirteen from each of thirteen member countries, was released in April 2020.
• Amphan made landfall on 20 May 2020 near the Sundarbans and went on to strike Bangladesh.
• The country that supplies a name has nothing to do with where the storm forms or where it makes landfall.

• Assuming the worst-affected country named the storm.
• Confusing Amphan with Nisarga, which struck Maharashtra a fortnight later and was named by Bangladesh.
• Treating the naming as an Indian prerogative because the India Meteorological Department announces it.

A who-named-it item, and the reliable preparation is a short table of recent cyclones against the country that supplied each name.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which agency assigns names to tropical cyclones forming over the north Indian Ocean?

  • (a)The World Meteorological Organization directly
  • (b)The India Meteorological Department
  • (c)The National Disaster Management Authority
  • (d)The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services

  Answer(b) The India Meteorological Department — it is the regional specialised meteorological centre for this basin.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Cyclone Nisarga, which struck the Maharashtra coast in June 2020, was named by

  • (a)India
  • (b)Bangladesh
  • (c)Thailand
  • (d)Sri Lanka

  Answer(b) Bangladesh — the next name in the rotation, and again unrelated to where the storm made landfall.