DROUGHT

By,
USMAN ILYAS
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
University of Management & Technology, Lahore
 What is a Drought?
Drought is defined as a
period in which a region
has a deficit in its water
supply whether surface
or underground water. It
can last for months or
years, or even days…..
though droughts can
persist for several years,
even a short, intense
drought can cause
significant damage and
harm to the local
economy.
Look at the pictures and tell what you observe?
 Are we All vulnerable TO DROUGHT
• It is one of the most widespread disaster.
• Often, people do not react to drought like they do to
other sudden disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones,
and floods.
• Since drought conditions develop over period of time,
and without immediately perceptible changes to
environment.
• Hence drought is called a ‘ slow on set ’ disaster.
 HOw A DROUGHT sTARTs
• A drought starts when total rainfall is well below
average for several months
• Other signs of drought include:
1. Very dry soil
2. Trees have a sign of dying
3. Weather getting hotter and hotter
 Causes
Drought can be caused by a number of factors.
• The most important one though relates to the
amount of water vapor in the atmosphere as this is
what creates precipitation.
• If there is an above average presence of dry, high
pressure air instead, less moisture is available to
produce precipitation.
• Even, deforestation for agriculture and/or building
combined with the resultant erosion can also cause
drought to begin because as soil is moved away from
an area it is less able to absorb moisture when it
falls.
Droughts can be of three
kinds

•Meteorological drought
•Hydrological drought
•Agricultural drought
 Meteorological drought
This happens when the actual
rainfall in an area is significantly
less than the climatological mean
of that area. The country as a
whole may have a normal
monsoon, but different
meteorological districts and sub-
divisions can have below normal
rainfall. The rainfall categories for
smaller areas are defined by their
deviation from a meteorological
area's normal rainfall.
 Hydrological drought
Hydrological Drought is associated with the affect of
low rainfalls on water level in reservoirs, rivers & lakes
This type of drought are notices sometimes after a
meteorology drought.
 Agricultural drought
Agricultural drought occurs when there isn’t enough
water for a crop to grow at the particular time. This
type of drought doesn’t depend only in the amount
of rainfalls where water is used carelessly for irrigation
and other purpose
 Consequences of Drought
There are short and long term consequences with any
drought because of nature and society's dependence on
water. Problems associated with drought can have
economic, environmental, and social impacts on both
the areas where they occur and areas that have
relations with those where the drought happens.
 Impacts of Drought
• Economic impact (agriculture and the income
generated from crops in short term and
unemployment of farmers)

• Environmental impact (insect infestations and plant

diseases, increased erosion, habitat. Plant and animal
species can suffer tremendously, and over time
desertification can happen with an extreme lack of
moisture at long term)
 Impacts of Drought
• Social impact (disputes between users of available
water, inequalities in water distribution between
wealthy and poor, disparities in areas in need of
disaster relief, and a decline in health)
 Drought Actors
• Federal Government: Planning Commission, WAPDA,
Ministry of Climate Change, Ministry of Food Research,
NDMA, PMD, SUPARCO;
• Provincial Government: Departments: P&D, Food,
Health, Livestock, Forest, Agriculture, Irrigation,
PDMA
• Districts: Relevant departments of the District
Government led by the DC;
• UN Agencies: WFP, UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, relevant NGOss
Deserts / Rangelands
Cholistan
 Drought prone regions of Pakistan
• The Thar Desert: spread over 320,000 square kms with 85% in
India.
• Pakistan’s Thar desert is spread over approx 50,000 square kms
across Tharparkar, parts of Umarkot, Sanghar, Khairpur and Ghotki;
• Kirthar Range in Sindh: Spread over 25,000 sq kms, it extends
into Jamshoro, Dadu and part of Thatta district;
• Rangelands of Balochistan: comprise 79% of the landmass.
Include Central Balochistan Quetta and Kalat; Western Balochistan
desert: Chagai, Kharan, Gwador, Lasbela and Kharan. Eastern
Balochistan Zhob and Loralai regions;
• Cholistan Desert: 26,3000 square kms along Bahawalnagar,
Bahawalpur & Rahim Yar Khan and the Indian border;
• Thal Desert: Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali and Leyyah between
Jhelum and Indus; Issues: water management, desertification,
barani agriculture, poor services, weak environmental
management
Brief History of Hazards in Pakistan
• Pakistan continues to suffer natural and human
induced hazards
• Natural hazards include Cyclones, drought,
floods, landslides, earthquakes
• Human induced include fires, terrorism, civil
unrest, industrial accidents, transport accidents
and war etc.
• About 6,037 people were killed and 8,989,631
were affected from 1993 – 2002 *

* World Disasters Report, 2003

 Brief History of Hazards in Pakistan
Frequency of Significant hazards in Pakistan (1954 - 2004)
Overall Rank Natural Disaster Degree of Severity
1 Avalanches 1
2 Cyclones 16
3 Droughts 4
4 Earthquakes 18
5 Epidemics 6
6 Floods 33
8 Landslides 3
9 Pest Attacks 1
10 Extreme Temperature 12
Estimated No. of people Killed and the Financial losses (1926 – 2006)
Disasters No. of Events Casualties Damages (Million
USD)
Drought 4 223 247
Earthquake 22 142812 5200
Epidemic 10 283 0
Flood 53 11767 6000
Landslides 13 413 0
Windstorms 21 11654 4
6:2T2rPaM
nsport 19 420 179
Source: Disaster Risk Management, TWG Working Group Meeting, United Nations, May 17, 2007.
 Brief History of Hazards in Pakistan
• The droughts and the associated famines have
been affecting the Indus Basin from time to time
• Worst drought occurred in 1899, 1920 and 1935
in Punjab province *
• 1902 and 1951 in the KPK *
• 1871, 1881, 1899, 1931, 1947 and 1998 in the
Sindh province *

* Ahmad et al., Drought mitigation in Pakistan: Current status and options for future strategies. Working
Paper 85. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (2004).
Why Pakistan is extremely vulnerable to
drought?
Estimated 30 years province wise precipitation in Pakistan (mm) *
Period KPK Punjab Balochistan Sindh
Dec - Mar 228.8 81.1 69.3 14.2
Jun - Sept 252.9 260.3 64.2 137.5
Apr - May 106.5 36.5 20.1 5.5
Oct - Nov 37.7 11.3 4.8 4.4

• In each season some regions of the country are extremely dry and
always suffer from drought
• If following seasons do not receive sufficient precipitation
• the drought conditions emerge in these areas and gaining
severity.
• So that drought has become an intermittent
phenomenon in the country.

* S. A. Anjum et al., An Assessment to vulnerability, extent, characteristics and severity of drought hazard in
Pakistan, Pakistan Journal of Science (Vol. 64 No. 2 June, 2012)
Extent and Status of Drought in
Pakistan
• Extreme drought of 1998 – 2002:
• The severely affected provinces were Balochistan &
Sindh
• 1.5 million people were affected and killed about
two million animals
• In Sindh, 127 people died , mostly in Tharparkar
• About 60% people moved to irrigated area

8/22/2016 9:16:23 PM 27
Extent and Status of Drought in
Pakistan
• Moderate drought of 2004 till 2005:
• Again gripped the Balochistan and Sindh
• No damage or death occurred
• In winter of 2005 average rainfall was 40% less
and
snowfall was 25% less than normal

• Weak drought of mid 2009 – mid 2010:

• Occurred in upper parts of Pakistan i.e., Punjab,
KPK, Gilgit, Kashmir and Northern Balochistan
• The drought caused 30% less rain in monsoon
• Farmers were worst affected
Thank you…