The Effects of Drought

 Droughts = natural disasters  Main cause = lack of precipitation  Difficult to measure long-term effects ◦ malnutrition / starvation ◦ mass migration /overcrowding of cities ◦ political conflict / wars

 Soil turns into dust and blows away  No topsoil = no crops  No grasses for cattle, sheep, etc. to eat  Water sources dry up  Malnutrition and starvation = death

 Threat of starvation may motivate people to migrate  Large numbers move from rural areas to cities  They do not return to their original homes  Example: Brazil

 Citizens begin to pressure their governments for relief  If government doesn’t help = political conflicts and/or wars  Poverty has led to major conflicts in nearly one-half of the world’s low-income countries since (World Bank)

 Cost of droughts in U.S. = over $6 billion  More than twice the cost of floods

“Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.” ~John Updike