Impact of Drought - social, economic, political, environment, health and psychosocial

IMPACTS OF DROUGHT

Social impact  

The social impacts of droughts are most felt, as they directly involve people in a community and their families.
Health has a direct link to the water supply in any community. Clean water for drinking, cleaning and sanitation help society prevent and manage diseases. Hunger, malnutrition, anaemia and mortality are the indirect effects of drought. Droughts cause low food production. Food nutrition also is a problem, and that leads to vulnerability diseases/illness and deaths. Droughts mean less water avaiable, resulting in lesser dilution resulting in increased concentration of chemicals, nutrients and reduced dissolved content of water. Droughts result in poor living conditions forcing people to migrate to places with better living conditions. When several of the young and working population the region is termed drought vulnerable. Anxiety, stress and depression have a negative effect on people and this results in low esteem and feeling of social isolation.

Economic impact

Economic impacts of drought involve loss of money due to:

1. Additional money required to irrigate crops by spending money to drill new wells or purchase water in tankers from far away places.
2. Low crop yield
3. Farm equipment will not be purchased from businesses and industries
4. Drought implies drier conditions and more bush fires that destroy farms, properties, forests and trees. The
5. government uses additional resources to fight fires and provide emergency services
6. Energy industries lose money because they cannot meet energy demands of the region.

 

Political impact

Droughts have political impacts too. A drought can be considered as an event in hydroligic time as well as political time. A head of a state declares a drought emergency seeking help from the centre. State and central governments come to the rescue of the drought affected region, request the citizens to conserve water to tide over the crisis. At water, the central government acts as an arbiter between regions concerning water allocated to them. These are the recurring political impacts of drought. Drought politics stimulates political and policy change. Drought is a classic example of a "focusing event" that creates a window of opportunity for policy change. Most politicians use drought to push forward their policies and make their preferred political change.

Environmental impact

Soil moisture is important for breakdown of organic matter. Droughts lower the quality of soils, because there is less organic activity, increased wind erosion, and soil insects or organisms perish.
Water bodies (lakes, creeks, ponds and lagoons) are completely dry and cause the death of water animals.
Droughts also affect entire food chains and ecosystems.
Droughts worsen the process of desertification and eliminate any chances of the land to recover
The health and quality of freshwater biomes (ponds, lakes, streams and rivers) are affected and the living organisms are endangered.

Impact on health of community

 Droughts have far reaching effects beyond the farm, including many effects on human health. The potential health effects that occur with drought are:
Droughts can reduce air quality and compromise the health of people due to  dry soils. Wildfires increase the amount of airborne particles, such as pollen and smoke. These particles can irritate the airways and worsen chronic respiratory illnesses, such as asthma while increasing the risk of respiratory infections, such as bacterial pneumonia.
Drought increases the risk of people catching the fungal infection valley fever. The disease is transmitted when spores in the soil become airborne and are inhaled. The condition causes a range of symptoms, including fever, chest pain, coughing, rash, and muscle aches.
In a drought, people may feel the need to reduce hand washing and other hygiene practices to conserve water leading to an increased spread of infectious diseases, such as acute respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses.
People whose livelihood is directly tied to the water supply like farmers, horticulturalists and nursery owners may suffer adverse mental health effects during a drought.
Financial-related stress and worry can cause depression, anxiety, and a host of other mental and behavioral health conditions. For example, an increased rate of suicide among people living in farming areas during droughts.
Reduced rainfall can limit the growing season for farmers, and further reduce crop yields by creating ideal conditions for insect infestations that damage crops. This can bring increases in food prices, or shortages of certain foods, potentially leading to malnutrition.
In a drought, farmers may also use recycled water to irrigate fields.  If the process is not properly monitored, crops can become contaminated with pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli
Increase in diseases transmitted by insects, such as West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, are linked with drought, the CDC says. Drought can shrink bodies of water, and cause water to become stagnant, providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

 

Psychosocial impacts of drought on people in the affected community

Studies on flooding and psychological well-being after flooding indicate that although the major stressor of flooding is the disaster itself, the secondary stressors of rebuilding and returning to normal life can pose substantial social and mental health problems for months or years afterward. The problems range from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to clinical depression and anxiety to substance abuse to relationship problems. However, if the affected person believes that they can control their feelings, they will be better prepared mentally to deal with the aftermath of the disaster. It has been found that women who were faced the disaster were likely to suffer from depression and anxiety while men were likely to exhibit violent behaviour and alcohol abuse.
In general, it was observed that there are six typical initial responses:

1. fear
2. numbness and shock
3. confusion
4. difficulty in making decisions
5. desire for information
6. seeking help for oneself and family and helpfulness to others.

Delayed responses, which can surface months later, include:

1. changes in appetite
2. headaches
3. inability to sleep
4. anger
5. suspicion
6. apathy
7. depression
8. withdrawal from family and friends
9. disillusionment with official help and
10. guilt at not having been able to prevent or avoid the emergency