Natural Hazards: Causes and Effects - Disaster Management Center ...

• distribution of seeds for alternative crops.
If desertification is accelerated during a drought, several activities are normally taken to reclaim
the land and develop water resources. These are discussed in the chapter on desertification.
If emergency measures are not immediately instituted at the beginning of a drought, large
populations will inevitably begin migrating from the drought-stricken area. Once this has
happened, the emergency response becomes a famine response, and emergency relief
measures must be initiated.
Post-disaster Activities
Once the drought has abated or the flow of displaced persons has been stemmed, permanent
recovery activities are initiated. Usually the victims and the government must decide on one of
two courses of action: re-establishment of communities in the drought-stricken area, or
resettlement of the drought victims to unaffected areas. As a general rule, resettlement is not
favored except in extreme circumstances or where desertification has made return to the
original communities impossible.
If the drought victims return to their homes, the focus is on re-establishing, and hopefully
improving, normal economic and agricultural activities. Typical programs include:
• economic assistance;
• agricultural extension;
• animal husbandry;
• rangeland management;
• water resource development;
• agricultural engineering works including development of windbreaks and crop protection
devices, installation of improved irrigation systems and introduction of drip irrigation.
The reader should note that the reconstruction activities are virtually identical to the disaster
mitigation activities; they require the same type of skills and technical inputs as the former. 7
Myths and Lessons Learned
The most important myth concerning droughts is that nothing can be done to prevent them or to
respond effectively once they have started. In fact, small-scale measures can have a significant
impact, and with proper forethought the ravaging effects of droughts can often be substantially
reduced. The experience of relief agencies in the serious Sahelian drought of the 1970s
provided many useful lessons on how to respond to disasters and how not to operate in these
conditions. These include:
The importance of early warning. Droughts do not occur without warning. Indicators can be
monitored and interpreted, giving adequate notice in order to begin response and reduce the
severity of the drought.
The importance of water allocation and rationing. At the beginning of a drought water supplies
must be used wisely. Priorities should be established and measures to protect water supplies
should be taken immediately. In some cases, researchers have noted that if water supplies had
been rationed and allocated so that the high-priority areas had received sufficient water, the
effects of the droughts would have been minimal, and shortages could have been met through
supplies from outside the affected area.