DROUGHTS
Definition:
Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern in a region for an
extended period of time leading to general sutfering in the society. It is inteplay between
demand that people place on natural supply of water and natural event that provides the
water in a given geographical region.
º It is a slow on-set disaster and it is ditficult to demarcate the time of its onset and the
end.
Any unusual dry period which results in a shortage of useful water.
Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate. Climate is expected to show some
aberrations and drought is just a part of it.
> Drought can occur by improper distribution of rain in time and space, and not just by
is negative balance between precipitation and water use (through
evaporation, transpiration by plants, domestic and industrial uses etc) in a
geographical region.
Causes of Droughts:
> Deficit rainfall
º Over population
> Over grazing
> Deforestation
Soil erosion
Excessive use of ground and surface water for growing crops
º Loss of biodiversity
Types of droughts:
Drought proceeds in sequential manner. Its impacts are spread across different domains as
listed below.
Meteorological drought:
Meteorological drought is simple absenceldeficit of raintall from the nomal. It is the least
severe form of drought and is often identified by sunny days and hot weather.
Hydrological drought:
Hydrological drought often leads to reduction of natural stream flows or ground water levels,
plus stored water supplies. The main impact is on water resource systems.
Agricultural drought:
This form
crop yields.of Initial
drought occurs whenare
consequences moisture
in the level in soil
reduced is insufficient
seasonal output toof maintain
crops andaverage
other
related
prolongedproduction.
shortage ofAn food
extreme agriculturalregion
in a restricted drought can widespread
causing lead to a famine,
disease which is a
and death
from starvation.
Socio-economic drought:
Socio-economic drought correlates the supply and demand of goods and services with the
three above-mentioned types of drought. When the supply of some goods oreeeservices such
as water and electricity are weather dependant then drought may cause shortages in supply
of these economic goods.
Elements at Risk:
in general, all those elements that are primarily dependent on water are most affected.
> It affects the rain fed crops and then slowly creeps into the irrigated crops.
> People who are dependent on agriculture and areas where the other livelihood
opportunities are least developed are greatly affected.
The herdsman, landless labourer, subsistence farmers, women, children and farm
animals are the most vulnerable groups
Distribution Patternin India:
Around 68 per cent of india's total area is drought prone to drought.
315 out of a total of 725 Talukas in 99 districts are drought prone.
50 milion people are annually affected by drought.
In 2001 more than eight states suttered the impact of severe drought.
In 2003 most parts of Rajasthan experienced the fourth consecutive year of drought.
Typical adverse effects:
As the meteorological drought tums into hydrological drought, the impacts start
appearing first in agriculture which is most dependants on the soil moisture.
Irrigated areas are affected much later than the rain fed areas.
However, regions surounding perennial rivers tend to continue normal te even
when drought conditions are prevailing around. The impacts slowly spread into social
fabric as the availability of drinking water diminishes, reduction in energy production,
ground water depletion, food shortage, health reduction and loss of lite, increased
poverty, reduced quality of life and social unrest leading to migration.
Possible Risk Reduction Measures:
There are various mitigation strategies to cope up with drought.
Public Awareness and education: It the community is aware of the dos and don'ts,
then half of the problem is solved. This includes awareness on the availability of safe
drinking water, water conservation techniques, agricultural drought management strategies
like crop contingency plans, construction of rain water harvesting structure. Awareness can
be generated by the print, electronic and folk media.
Drought Monitoring: It is continuous observation of the raintall situation, availability of
water in the reservolrs, lakes, rivers etc and comparing with the existing water needs in
various sectors of the society.
Water supply augmentation and conservation through rainwater harvesting in
houses and farmers fields increases the content of water available. Water harvesting by
either allowing the runoff water from all the fields to a common point (e.g. Farm ponds)
allowing it to infiltrate into the soil where it has fallen (in situ) (e.g. contour bunds,
ricultural
cultivation, raised bed planting etc) helps increase water availability for sustained agricul
production.
Expansion of irrigation facilities reduces the drought vulnerability.
Land use based on its capability helps in optimum use of land and water and can avoid the
undue demand created due to their misuse.
Livelihood planning identifies those livelihoods which are least affected by the drought.
Some of such livelihoods include increased off-farm employment opportunities, collection of
non-timber forest produce from the community forests, raising goats, carpentry etc.
Drought planning: the basic goal of drought planning is to improve the effectiveness of
preparedness and response efforts by enhancing monitoring. mitigation and response
measures
Planning would help in effective coordination among state and national agencies i
dealing with the drought. Components of drought plan include establishing drought
tasktorce which is a team of specialists who can advise the govenment in taking
decision to deal with drought situation, establishing coordination mechanism among
various agencies which deal with the droughts, providing crop insurance schemes to
the farmers to cope with the drought related crop losses, and public awareness
generation.
CYCLONES
Definition:
Cyclone is a region of low atmospheric pressure surrounded by high atmospheric pressure
resulting in swirling atmospheric disturbance accompanied by powerful winds blowing in
anticlockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and in the clockwise direction in the
Southem Hemisphere. They occur mainly in the tropical and temperate regions of the world.
Cyclones are known by different names in different parts of the world:
Typhoons in the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline
º Hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the
dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean.
º Tropical cyclones -the Southwest Pacific Ocean and Southeast Indian Ocean.
º Severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean)
> Tropicalcyclone (the Southwest Indian Ocean)
> Willie-Willie in Australia
º Tornado in South America
General Characteristics:
Cyclones in India are moderate in nature. Some of the general characteristics of a cyclone
are:
1. Strong winds
2. Exceptional rain
3. Storm surge
The development of a cyclone covers three stages namely
(a) Formation and initial development state:
Four atmospheric/ oceanic conditions are necessary for the formation of a cyclone:
º Awarm sea temperature in excess of 26 degree centigrade, to a depth of 60
meters, which provides abundant water vapour in the air by evaporation.
High relative humidity(degree to which the air is saturated by water vapor) of
the atmosphere to a height of about 7000 meters, facilitates condensation of
water vapor into droplets and clouds, releases heat energy and induces drop
in pressure.
º Atmospheric instability (an above average decrease of temperature with
altitude) encourages considerable vertical cumulus cloud convection when
condensation of rising air occurs.
> A location of at least 4-5 latitude degrees from the Equator allow the influence
of the force due to the earth's rotation (Coriolis force) to take effect in inducing
cyclonic wind circulation around low pressure centers.
(b) Fully matured:
The main feature of a fully mature tropical cyclone is a spiral pattern of highly
turbulent giant cumulus thundercloud bands. These bands spiral inwards and form a
dense highly active central cloud core which raps around a relativetly calm zone. This
is called the "eye" of a cyclone. The eye looks like a black hole or a dot surrounded
by thick clouds. The outer circumference of the thick cloud is called the 'eye wall!.
(c) Weakening or decay:
A tropical cyclone begins to weaken as soon as its source of warm moist air is
abruptly cut off. This is possible when the cyclone hits the land, on the cyclone
moves to a higher altitude or when there is the interference of another low pressure.
Indian Hazard Zones:
The 7516.6 kilometres long Indian coastline is the earth's most cyclone battered stretch of
the world. Around 8 per cent of the total land area in India is prone to cyclones. About two
third of the cyclones that occur in the Indian coastline occur in the Bay of Bengal. The states
which are generally affected in the east coast are West-Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and on the west coast Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kamataka and Kerala.
Warning:
º Low pressure and the development can be detected hours or days before it causes
damage.
> The satellites track the movement of these cyclones based on which the people are
evacuated from areas lively to be affected. It is difficult to predict the accuracy.
º Accurate landfall predictions can give only a few hours' notice to threatened
population.
> India has one of the best cyclone warning systems in the world. The India
Meteorological Department (IMD) is the nodal department for wind detection, tracking
and forecasting cyclones.
> Cyclone tracking is done through INSAT satellite.
º Cyclone waming is disseminated by several means such as satellite based disaster
warning systems, radio, television, telephone, fax, high priority telegram, public
announcements and bulletins in press. These warnings are disseminated to the
general public, the fishing community especially those in the sea, port authorities,
commercial aviation and the government machinery.
Typical Adverse effects:
High winds cause major damage to infrastructure and housing. in particular fragile
constructions. They are generally followed by heavy rains and floods and, in flat coastal
areas by storm surge riding on tidal waves and inundating the land over long distances of
even up to 15 kilometres inland.
Physical damage: structures will be damaged or destroyed by the wind force, flooding and
storm surge. Light pitched roofs of most structures especially the ones fitted on to industrial
buildings will suffer severe damage.
Casualties and public health: caused by flooding and flying elements, contamination of
water supplies may lead to viral outbreaks, diarrhoea, and malaria.
Water supplies: Ground and pipe water supply may get contaminated by flood waters.
Crops and food supplies - high winds and rains ruin the standing crop and food stock lying
in low lying areas. Plantation type crops such as banana and coconut are extremely
vulnerable. Salt from the sea water may get deposited on the agricultural land and increase
the salinity. The loss of the crop may lead to acute food shortage.
Communication: severe disruption in the communication links as the wind may bring down
the and communication towers, telephone poles, telephone lines, antennas and
satellite disk and broadcasting services. Transport lines (road and rail) may be curtailed,
Lack of proper communication affects effective distribution of relief materials.
Possible Risk Reduction Measures:
Coastal belt plantation - Green belt plantation along the coastal line in a scientific
interweaving pattern can reduce the effect of the hazard. Providing a cover through green
belt sustains less damage. Forests act as a wide buffer zone against strong winds and flash
floods. Without the forest the cyclone travel freely inland. The lack of protective forest cover
allows water to inundate large areas and cause destruction. With the loss of the forest cover
each consecutive cyclone can penetrate further inland.
Hazard mapping - Meteorological records of the wind speed and the directions give the
probability of the winds in the region. Cyclones can be predicted several days in advance.
The onset is extensive and often very destructive. Past records and paths can give the
pattern of occurrence for particular wind speeds. A hazard map will illustrate the areas
vulnerable to cyclone in any given year. It will be useful to estimate the severity of the
cyclone and various damage intensities in the region. The map is prepared with data inputs
of past climatological records, history of wind speed, frequency of flooding etc.
Land use control designed so that least critical activities are placed in vulnerable areas.
Location of settlements in the floodplains is at utmost risk. Sitting of key facilities must be
marked in the land use. Policies should be in place to regulate land use and building codes
should be enforced.
Engineered structures - structures need to be built to withstand wind forces. Good site
selection is also important. Majority of the buildings in coastal areas are buit with locally
available materials and have no engineering inputs. Good construction practice should be
adopted such as: -
" Cyclonic wind storms inundate the coastal areas. It is advised to construct on stits or
on earth mound.
Houses can be strengthened to resist wind and flood damage. All elements holding
the structures need to be properly anchored to resist the uplift or flying off of the
objects. For example, avoid large overhangs of roofs, and the projections should be
tied down.
A row of planted trees will act as a shield. It reduces the energy.
Buildings should be wind and water resistant.
Buildings storing food supplies must be protected against the winds and water.
Protect
river embankments.
Communication lines should be installed underground.
" Provide strong halls for community shelter in vulnerable locations.
Flood management-Torrential rains, strong wind and storm range leads to flooding in
the cyclone affected areas. There are possibilities of landslides too. Flod mitigation
measures could be incorporated
Improving vegetation cover- The roots of the plants and trees keep the soil intact and
prevent erosion and slow runoff to prevent or lessen flooding. The use of tree planted in
rows will act as a windbreak. Coastal shelterbelt plantations can be developed to break
severe wind speeds. It minimizes devastating effects. The Orissa calamity has also
highlighted the need for urgent measures like shelterbelt plantation along cyclone-prone
coastal areas. Species chosen for this purpose should not only be able to withstand the
impact of stronggcyclonic winds, but also check soil erosion.
