Drought Mitigation and Preparedness Planning using RS and GIS

Space technology has made substantial contribution in all the three phases such as preparedness, prevention and relief phases of natural disasters. This paper presents a GIS and remote sensing based drought mitigation and preparedness planning by using watershed modeling approach. The land information in the watershed was derived from 0.6m satellite imagery. Land use map and digital elevation map was developed as the prime source of information on land characteristics of the watershed. To accomplish the task a number of geographic information system (GIS) models were developed as ETo model, actual ET model, rainfall run-off model, groundwater recharge model, grazing potential and rangeland suitability model. Modified FAO-24 Blaney Criddle method was used for the development of GIS ET model. Sacramento and Maxey-Eakin methods were used for rainfall run-off and groundwater recharge model respectively. These GIS-based hydrologic data models are facilitated in evaluating alternative strategies to make the best use of available resources in severe drought conditions.