ABSTRACT
Natural disasters cause major disruption, economic losses, environmental damage and, sometimes, loss of life. Drought is one of many types of natural disaster, but is ubiquitous across the world, affecting every place where human habitation is possible. It can happen anywhere, at any time, and impact on anybody. By definition, droughts are impossible to prevent. Yet by studying their impacts, we can provide ample incentive to monitor their evolution, offer possible forewarning and, in the end, hopefully reduce future impacts. Although this may be an obvious course to take, it has not always been so. Up until recently drought was essentially an afterthought in the mélange of natural hazards, in some ways the ugly cousin of the more dramatic and tangible hazards, such as hurricanes and floods. There are many reasons for this. Drought is a slow-moving hazard that may take weeks to years to develop and as long to recede. Thus a drought may be in full swing before anyone has noticed, by which time it may be too late to reduce the impacts. Compare this to floods, hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes, winter storms and heat waves. These are fast acting (of the order of minutes to days) and cause immediate, tangible and quantifiable damage. Yet drought causes as much damage, if not more than hurricanes and floods, because droughts are generally long-lasting, spatially extensive and impact upon many sectors.
