Socio-political impacts of Meteorological Droughts and their spatial patterns in Pakistan

Drought is often referred a creeping disaster as it takes time to mature, impacts may linger on for a considerably longer time period even after the termination of the event. Pakistan is climatically an arid to semi-arid country frequently in the grip of meteorological droughts. Since Pakistan has an agro-based economy, thus in drought years its economy cripples. The response of the government to this recurrently occurring disaster, has been reactive. This research delineates the pattern of meteorological droughts in Pakistan for the time period 1980-2010 and also defines droughts in the perspective of Pakistan’s climatic conditions. Drought mapping has been a neglected area in Pakistan. This paper offers map showing the spatial pattern of meteorological droughts in Pakistan and reveals that Sindh and Balochistan are the most arid parts of the country and have a high probability of extreme meteorological drought.