What impact did droughts have on Ethiopia during the 1980s?
What impact did droughts have on Ethiopia during the 1980s?
The worst famine to hit the country in a century, it affected 7.75 million people (out of Ethiopia’s 38–40 million) and left approximately 300,000 to 1.2 million dead. 2.5 million people were internally displaced whereas 400,000 refugees left Ethiopia. Almost 200,000 children were orphaned.
Why is Ethiopia at risk of drought?
The El Niño weather system, on the back of 12 to 18 months of erratic or failed rains, has caused the worst drought in Ethiopia since the mid 1980s. Ethiopia is one of a number of countries struggling to cope with the effects of one of the strongest El Niños on record.
What caused the drought in Ethiopia 1984?
What caused the 1980s Ethiopia famine? A perfect storm of adverse events led to the Ethiopia famine: recurring drought, failed harvests, food scarcity, conflict that kept aid from reaching people in occupied territory, and government policies that relocated families and routed relief to certain areas.
What role did drought play in causing the famine?
When drought occurs in such arid areas, the living conditions of local people become very difficult. In these conditions, the land yields no crops and water is insufficient for human consumption as well. People compete for the meager available resources. Pastoral communities are an example of this.
What are consequences of drought?
Drought can limit the growing season and create conditions that encourage insect and disease infestation in certain crops. Low crop yields can result in rising food prices and shortages, potentially leading to malnutrition. Drought can also affect the health of livestock raised for food.
What is impact of drought?
Immediate drought impacts can include visibly dry vegetation and lower water levels in lakes and reservoirs. Longer-term impacts, such as land subsidence, seawater intrusion, and damage to ecosystems, can be harder to see, but more costly to manage in the future.
What are the causes and consequences of drought?
When rainfall is less than normal for a period of weeks to years, streamflows decline, water levels in lakes and reservoirs fall, and the depth to water in wells increases. If dry weather persists and water-supply problems develop, the dry period can become a drought.
What caused the famine in Ethiopia?
Interviews conducted with randomly selected famine victims from Tigre in eastern Sudan indicate that insects, drought and Ethiopian military policies were the three leading causes of declines in agricultural production. Most of those interviewed stated that army worms were the main reason for crop failure.
What are causes and consequences of drought?
A drought is caused by drier than normal conditions that can eventually lead to water supply problems. Really hot temperatures can make a drought worse by evaporating moisture from the soil. But droughts don’t just happen in hot and dry places. A close-up image of dry, cracked soil during a drought.
What are the consequences of drought in Africa?
Macroeconomic impacts
| Primary impacts | Secondary impacts |
|---|---|
| Reduced forest, crop, and range land productivity | Reduced income and food shortages |
| Reduced water levels | Lower accessibility to water |
| Reduced cloud cover | Plant scorching |
| Increased daytime temperature | Increased fire hazard |
Is Ethiopia’s drought worse than that of 1984?
But in June 2015 the drought hit Ethiopia again, experts believe it will be the most severe drought in 50 years, worse than that of 1984. UNICEF estimates that today’s drought in Ethiopia puts 8 million of its 60 million citizens at immediate risk. Of the 8 million, 1.4 million are children under the age of 5.
What are the challenges of drought management in Ethiopia?
The western and southwestern part of the country dicates that the drought does not cover all parts of the country. 2.4. Challenges for monitoring and predicting drought in Ethiopia curred most of the time in both short and long rainfall seasons.
Did El Niño cause the drought in Ethiopia?
Like most others, Park Williams, climatologist at Columbia University, blames the Ethiopian drought due to the lack of rainfall during their rainy season. Williams however argues that the effect of El Niño could have been expected as the forecast was ahead of time.
What caused the famine in Ethiopia in 1984?
History Repeats Itself: Ethiopian Drought Causes Famine. One of the deadliest disasters during the 20 th century occurred in Ethiopia between 1983 and 1985, when the nation suffered severe famine. Due to the limited rainfall in 1983, crop failed resulting in an increase of 300% in grain prices nation wide, causing severe food shortages in 1984.
