Overview | Earthquake | Drought | Fire | Flood & Cyclones | Landslide& Soil Erosion | Volcano
Manipulation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for Delineating Drought Vulnerable Areas
The district Khuzdar of Balochistan lies between 25° 43' and 28° 52' north latitude and 65° 42' and 69° 29' east longitudes. According to the climatic classification of the study area on the basis of annual moisture index (percent), Khuzdar lies in arid zone with annual average rainfall 243mm. The percentage departure of total December/January rainfall from 1995-96 to 1999-00 shows a gradual increase in below normal rainfall resulting in meteorological drought. Severe conditions in 1997-98 and 1998-99 had an impact on the vegetation cover in the district. A shift in dense vegetation to sparse and environmentally stressed occurred as shown in Figure 4.3. The example of each of these districts gave an idea that comparison of vegetation cover in later dates with that of previous ones of the same month/season can lead to monitor the vegetation status. This vegetation status determined is the direct indicator of the instances of rainfall occurrence. Further information of physical parameters including soil type, surface water hydrology, ground water potential etc. would be helpful in carrying out multilayer spatial analysis. Also, there is a great need of incorporating the socioeconomic data (population growth, education, health, drinking water availability, migration, employment etc.) to determine the vulnerability of people of theses areas to drought. |