Drought occurs when there is not enough water to satisfy the normal needs of agriculture, livestock and human population. It is generally associated with arid or semi arid climates, but drought can also occur in areas of adequate rainfall.
Droughts have disastrous impact on an economy and can affect a very large segment of the society.
Drought may be defined as that situation in which there is temporary reduction in wateror where moisture availability is considerable below the normal amount for a specific period. Insufficient amount of rainfall and excessive amount of evaporation are the main causes of droughts. Droughts can cause death through famine.
Characteristic Features
Whenever the monsoonal rain falls the effect can be disastrous. There is scarcity
of drinking water, crops die and people starve. The characteristic features of a
drought are as under:
Causes
Droughts occur due to the following reasons:
Effects
Droughts have severe consequences:
Drought Prone Areas
India is one of the most droughts prone countries of the world. Nearly three-fourth
of its cultivable land is affected by occasional droughts. On the western side of
India, states like Gujarat and Rajas than are highly susceptible to droughts. Other
droughts prone areas are Western Orissa , Chhattisgarh , Jharkhand , interior parts
of Karnataka and Maharashtra, parts of Punjab , Haryana , Uttar pradesh ,Tamil Nadu
,Telangana and Ryalseema areas of Andhra Pradesh .
Predicting Droughts
The Monsoon condition is directly related to droughts situations in India. If the
monsoon fails to arrive or is of poor quality, then a drought-like situation is
inevitable. If we study the monsoon rainfall data over the previous years and analyse
it, then it is fairly possible to predict the likelihood of droughts in certain
areas.
Drought Mitigation
In order to minimize the affect of droughts, some long- term as well as short –term
measures are o be taken.