What Is Drought?
Drought is caused by a lack of rainfall, causing serious water shortages. It can be fatal.Unlike other extreme weather events that are more sudden, like earthquakes or hurricanes, droughts happen gradually. But they can be just as deadly as other weather hazards—if not more so: Drought has affected more people in the last 40 years than any other natural disaster. The severity of drought worsens over time. When it arrives, drought can last for weeks, months, or years—sometimes, the effects last decades.
Rainfall Variability In South Africa
Rainfall variability for the country has been associated with atmospheric circulation configurations and interchanges in easterly and westerly circulations, the interactions between tropical and temperature systems, and the variation in pressure patterns over Marion and Gough Island (summarized in Tyson, 1986; Lindsay, 1998). Prolonged heat waves and droughts are linked, in most cases to the predominance of prevailing anticycIonic circulation over the country. Longer periods, such as extended wet spells, for example, are usually caused by an invigoration of tropically induced circulation disturbances forced by tropical easterlies whereas the extended dry spells usually occur with an expansion and increase of westerly disturbances. In the latter case, summers become drier in the summer rainfall region (Tyson and Lindesay, 1992). Aspects of this circulation patterning during wet and dry seasons.
What Are Causes Of Drought In South Africa
Droughts can be triggered by natural causes such as weather patterns. But increasingly they are caused by human activity.
Manmade causes include:
- Climate change – global warming makes extreme weather more likely. It can make places drier by increasing evaporation. When land becomes so dry, an impermeable crust forms, so when it does rain, water runs off the surface, meaning sometimes flash flooding occurs.
- Deforestation – plants and trees release water into the atmosphere, which creates clouds and then rain. Bad agricultural practices like intense farming not only contribute to deforestation in the first instance but also affect the absorbency of the soil, meaning it dries out much quicker.
- High water demand –There are several reasons water demand might outweigh the supply, including intensive agriculture and population spikes. Also, high demand upstream in rivers (for dams or irrigation) can cause drought in lower, downstream areas.
How Are People Affected By Drought?
Increase in diseases
Drought affects vital access to clean drinking water. This can lead to people drinking contaminated water, which brings about outbreaks of diseases like cholera and typhoid. These diseases can also spread in places with poor sanitation, another side-effect of having no clean water.
It can cause wildfires
Dry conditions can cause wildfires that burn remaining vegetation and endanger homes. Fires can also impact air quality and exacerbate chronic lung conditions.
It can lead to displacement
People must travel further to find clean water. This usually falls to women and children, who must sacrifice other work and school to carry out an incredibly physical task.
Without access to clean water or food, many must permanently leave their homes in order to survive. The World Health Organisation states, “Water scarcity impacts 40% of the world’s population, and as many as 700 million people are at risk of being displaced as a result of drought by 2030.”
Research has also found that drought exacerbates existing conflicts. People migrating en masse from areas of drought and famine can result in increased political tensions and conflict due to increased competition for resources. There is evidence that drought contributed to the conflict in Syria, for example.
