What is Phailin , Why is it named so

The cyclone that is headed towards the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast along the Bay of Bengal is named 'Phalin'. Phailin is the Thai word for sapphire and according to the followed procedure of naming tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean it was turn of a name suggested by Thailand in the list of assigned names. The next cyclone in the region will be called Helen, a name from the list of cyclone names given by Bangladesh. The practice of naming tropical cyclones began years ago in order to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages because names are presumed to be far easier to remember than the numbers and technical terms. Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on tropical cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness

ALSO READ: List of cyclone names in north Indian Ocean

Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker.

'Phailin' is the Thai word for sapphire. The next cyclone in north Indian Ocean will be called 'Helen'

In the beginning, storms were named arbitrarily. Then the mid-1900's saw the start of the practice of using feminine names for storms. In the pursuit of a more organized and efficient naming system, meteorologists later decided to identify storms using names from a list arranged alphabetically. Thus, a storm with a name which begins with A, like Anne, would be the first storm to occur in the year. Before the end of 1900's, forecasters started using male names for those forming in the Southern Hemisphere. Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.

It is important to note that tropical cyclones /hurricanes are named neither after any particular person, nor with any preference in alphabetical sequence. The tropical cyclone/hurricane names selected are those that are familiar to the people in each region. Obviously, the main purpose of naming a tropical cyclone/hurricane is basically for people easily to understand and remember the tropical cyclone/hurricane in a region, thus to facilitate tropical cyclone/hurricane disaster risk awareness, preparedness, management and reduction. In general, tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at a regional level. The World Meteorological Organization/Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Panel (WMO/ESCAP Panel) on Tropical Cyclones at its twenty-seventh Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman agreed in principal to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. After long deliberations among the member countries, the naming of the tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004.