Thomas+Peace+Australian+Drought

=__Australian Drought__=

__//By Thomas Peace//__
What's a drought? Most of us think of it as no rainfall, but it's not.l Drought is when there is less than expected rainfall over a period of time usually 7 months or more. The physical features of a drought may not be seen. This is because drought is something that you cant see happening but you can see the effects. This could be in catchment farmlands or in City's. There are no different types of drought but they can be caused different ways. the main way that Australia gets its drought is because there is a weather patern of the west coast of America. it is called El Nino, this is when there is above average water temperature. This means that the water is going to evaporate and make clouds. the clouds work there way over to Australia and it causes us to get warmer than usual sea water and this will cause more water to evaporate. Now this is where it gets a bit confusing you might think that because it is evaporating then we will get rain...well your half right. Because of the great dividing range the rainclouds get pushed up and they fall on the west and a little bit of the east side and most of the rain falls here and it mant make itself over to the rest of australia. This is why we have a desert and drought. I couldn't find a map that showed were drought is but i found one of Australia and i can name the countries that suffer from drought regularly. 

Zimbabwe
The Reason that all of these countries have drought is because they are overpopulated or they are near the equator which is the hottest place on earth and the water will evaporate and move on quicker there. Drought can be caused by humans and nature. it is normally natural because of weather patterns we cant control it, but if a country like china was in drought then it would probably be because they have to high a population and the rainfall cant keep up with the population and this would be caused by humans not the weather.

=Human Effects Of The Hazard=

Drought has a huge effect on humans it means that we need to change our lifestyles to suit the drought. this could be from water saving devices to water recycling plants. In Urban places you can't really see the effects of drought but if you travel to a rural place then it will be easily visible entering and leaving the town. There will be farms that have dried and cracked ground and dams with no water. in the rural towns there will be water tanks at almost every house to try and collect as much as possible on the rare chances that it does fall. there is not much of a effect on health or food, but housing is completely different. people will buy water saving shower heads and water saving appliances. it will completely change there household appliances. many urban areas will install water tanks as well and they will all try to save water as much as they can. drought does not destroy homes or workplaces so there is no need to rebuild.

=Environmental Effects Of The Hazard=

When there is drought there is not many environmental benefits. Drought has allot of natural effects. it effects water supplies, ground nutrients, plant and tree growth and much more. it is probably the worst affected. Drought takes effect because most of our rain falls on 1 place...the great dividing range and it cannot make itself to the other important parts of the country. animals can also be affected by drought. animals such a s fish or the platypus live in water and obviously need water to survive. when there is a shortage of water because it all evaporates up then, the animals that need water and might have been living in the lake or water source will die.

=The Responses To The Threat Of The Hazard=

When there is drought and it is really bad then the media will try and promote awareness and they will try and support farm owners by either raising money or buying tanks for them. this is because if the farmers stop producing food everywhere but the urban areas will pretty much be in poverty. to survive drought one of the many things that you can do is to get a rainwater tank installed and this will collect water every time that it rains. you can also get a greywater tank installed and this will collect tap water and shower water and it will put it into a separate tank for the garden. the government have places were you can and cant build so that if there is a hazard that destroyes your property you are not going to be spending all of you money to be setting it up like it was before.

This is Thomas Peace's Project On Drought

To Mr Exon