The insects swept the city at 11.30 a.m. M. Local Time (2 a.m. ET), Atul Kapur, the founder of a social enterprise living in Gurgaon, told CNN. After 15 minutes, thousands of locusts settled on the terraces and roofs of the houses before being swept away by strong winds.
The last time Kapur saw a swarm in the city was at least 40 years ago, he said. “As children we used to call them” tiddi “and [we] it would scare them away with loud noises, “Kapur, 56, told CNN.
In neighboring New Delhi, the city’s Minister of Labor and Development, Gopal Rai, shared a notice on Twitter, stating that all district magistrates in New Delhi are advised to “remain on high alert” as efforts increase. to contain the migratory plague.
He added that personnel will be deployed to help guide residents and villagers on how to disperse the locusts, perhaps through shooting fire crackers, “making a high decibel sound as it hits the drum. [or] utensil, play high-volume music on the music system, “wrote the notice.
Search for food
This occurs weeks after waves of desert locusts, millions of strong people and extending up to 7 kilometers (4 miles) long, crossed to the western state of Rajasthan, in India, from neighboring Pakistan in early May. Since then, swarms have been introduced to five different states in search of food.
The locusts had flown to India from their breeding grounds in Pakistan, Om Prakash, a Rajasthan-based plant protection officer for the Lobster Warning Organization, said in early June.
On June 20, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said India should remain on high alert for the next four weeks as “spring-bred adult groups and swarms continue to appear throughout from the Indo-Pakistan border, many of which have continued further east in several northern Indian states because the monsoon rains have not yet reached Rajasthan, India. “
Desert locust is one of the most destructive migratory pests due to its speed and ability to multiply rapidly. Adult lobsters can fly up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) a day and eat their own body weight, equivalent to 2 grams, of fresh vegetation in that period.
East Africa is experiencing the worst locust outbreak in decades, after climate change and conflict helped resurrect the biblical plague. Spraying pesticides is the most effective way to kill locusts, but the coronavirus pandemic has slowed efforts to combat the outbreak on the African continent.
