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Disastrous
droughts

Droughts are long periods of
abnormally low rainfall. When
droughts lead to failure of
food crops, they can trigger
a famine. Soil erosion, water
pollution, and deforestation
also take place during
droughts.

Sahel drought, 1972–74

Sahel is a drought-prone region
of Africa, situated south of the
Sahara Desert. It faced repeated
droughts in 1972–74, 1983–84,
1986–87, and again in 1991–92.
The Sahelian drought in the
early 1970s affected large parts
of Sudan, Senegal, and Ethiopia.
Rainfall in the Sahel area started
declining from 1968, and by
1972, there was barely any.

As a result of the Sahel drought, water levels Impact …
in the great Senegal and Niger rivers became
very low, and the huge Lake Chad shrank. The drought caused widespread starvation,
deaths, and hunger-related diseases. An
estimated one hundred thousand people died
due to starvation and disease in 1973. Most
people in the area practised farming and
cattle grazing for a living. With the crops
and the cattle dead, they were left without
any livelihood. Millions left their homes in
search of food. Pictures of people looking
like skeletons became associated with
Africa. The Sahel drought made Ethiopian
Emperor Haile Selassie unpopular. He was
overthrown in a military coup in 1974.

TICKER Droughts occur in all continents, but seven out of the ten most vulnerable countries are in
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