Articles | Volume 25, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-893-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-893-2025
Research article
 | 
27 Feb 2025
Research article |  | 27 Feb 2025

Mind the gap: misalignment between drought monitoring and community realities

Sarra Kchouk, Louise Cavalcante, Lieke A. Melsen, David W. Walker, Germano Ribeiro Neto, Rubens Gondim, Wouter J. Smolenaars, and Pieter R. van Oel

Related authors

Review article: Drought as a continuum – memory effects in interlinked hydrological, ecological, and social systems
Anne F. Van Loon, Sarra Kchouk, Alessia Matanó, Faranak Tootoonchi, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Khalid E. A. Hassaballah, Minchao Wu, Marthe L. K. Wens, Anastasiya Shyrokaya, Elena Ridolfi, Riccardo Biella, Viorica Nagavciuc, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Ana Bastos, Louise Cavalcante, Franciska T. de Vries, Margaret Garcia, Johanna Mård, Ileen N. Streefkerk, Claudia Teutschbein, Roshanak Tootoonchi, Ruben Weesie, Valentin Aich, Juan P. Boisier, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Yiheng Du, Mauricio Galleguillos, René Garreaud, Monica Ionita, Sina Khatami, Johanna K. L. Koehler, Charles H. Luce, Shreedhar Maskey, Heidi D. Mendoza, Moses N. Mwangi, Ilias G. Pechlivanidis, Germano G. Ribeiro Neto, Tirthankar Roy, Robert Stefanski, Patricia Trambauer, Elizabeth A. Koebele, Giulia Vico, and Micha Werner
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3173–3205, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3173-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3173-2024, 2024
Short summary
From insufficient rainfall to livelihoods: understanding the cascade of drought impacts and policy implications
Louise Cavalcante, David W. Walker, Sarra Kchouk, Germano Ribeiro Neto, Taís Maria Nunes Carvalho, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Wieke Pot, Art Dewulf, and Pieter van Oel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-650,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-650, 2024
Short summary
HESS Opinions: Drought impacts as failed prospects
Germano G. Ribeiro Neto, Sarra Kchouk, Lieke A. Melsen, Louise Cavalcante, David W. Walker, Art Dewulf, Alexandre C. Costa, Eduardo S. P. R. Martins, and Pieter R. van Oel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4217–4225, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4217-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4217-2023, 2023
Short summary
A geography of drought indices: mismatch between indicators of drought and its impacts on water and food securities
Sarra Kchouk, Lieke A. Melsen, David W. Walker, and Pieter R. van Oel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 323–344, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-323-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-323-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Hydrological Hazards
Recent large-inland-lake outbursts on the Tibetan Plateau: processes, causes, and mechanisms
Fenglin Xu, Yong Liu, Guoqing Zhang, Ping Zhao, R. Iestyn Woolway, Yani Zhu, Jianting Ju, Tao Zhou, Xue Wang, and Wenfeng Chen
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1187–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1187-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1187-2025, 2025
Short summary
Modelling urban stormwater drainage overflows for assessing flood hazards: application to the urban area of Dakar (Senegal)
Laurent Pascal Malang Diémé, Christophe Bouvier, Ansoumana Bodian, and Alpha Sidibé
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1095–1112, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1095-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1095-2025, 2025
Short summary
Dynamics and impacts of monsoon-induced geological hazards: a 2022 flood study along the Swat River in Pakistan
Nazir Ahmed Bazai, Mehtab Alam, Peng Cui, Wang Hao, Adil Poshad Khan, Muhammad Waseem, Yao Shunyu, Muhammad Ramzan, Li Wanhong, and Tashfain Ahmed
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1071–1093, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1071-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-1071-2025, 2025
Short summary
Monte Carlo-based sensitivity analysis of the RIM2D hydrodynamic model for the 2021 flood event in western Germany
Shahin Khosh Bin Ghomash, Patricio Yeste, Heiko Apel, and Viet Dung Nguyen
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 975–990, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-975-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-975-2025, 2025
Short summary
Post-wildfire sediment source and transport modeling, empirical observations, and applied mitigation: an Arizona, USA, case study
Edward R. Schenk, Alex Wood, Allen Haden, Gabriel Baca, Jake Fleishman, and Joe Loverich
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 727–745, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-727-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-727-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Adler, O. and Pansky, A.: Chapter 7 – A “rosy view” of the past: Positive memory biases, in: Cognitive Biases in Health and Psychiatric Disorders, edited by: Aue, T., and Okon-Singer, H., Academic Press, 139–171, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816660-4.00007-6, 2020. 
Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) and Fundação Cearense de Meteorologia e Recursos Hídricos (FUNCEME): Monitor de Secas, https://monitordesecas.ana.gov.br/mapa, last access: 28 January 2025. 
Alinovi, L., D'errico, M., Mane, E., and Romano, D.: Livelihoods strategies and household resilience to food insecurity: An empirical analysis to Kenya, 1–52, https://www.technicalconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Livelihoods-Strategies_Household-Res.pdf (last access: 28 January 2025), 2010. 
Bachmair, S., Stahl, K., Collins, K., Hannaford, J., Acreman, M., Svoboda, M., Knutson, C., Smith, K. H., Wall, N., Fuchs, B., Crossman, N. D., and Overton, I. C.: Drought indicators revisited: the need for a wider consideration of environment and society, WIREs Water, 3, 516–536, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1154, 2016. 
Download
Short summary
Droughts impact water and people, yet monitoring often overlooks impacts on people. In northeastern Brazil, we compare official data to local experiences, finding data mismatches and blind spots. Mismatches occur due to the data's broad scope missing finer details. Blind spots arise from ignoring diverse community responses and vulnerabilities to droughts. We suggest enhanced monitoring by technical extension officers for both severe and mild droughts.​
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint