Assessment of regional drought risk coupled with drought response capacity considering water supply systems

Abstract

Drought is a complex combination of natural, physical, and social phenomena. Prolonged drought can result in significant socioeconomic damage. Because the impact of drought varies according to the regional ability to cope with drought, it is necessary to assess the risk of drought by considering regional impact and response capacity. This study aims to improve the conventional drought risk (CDR) assessment method, which typically combines drought hazard and drought vulnerability. We proposed a modified drought risk (MDR) assessment that couples the regional response capacity with the local water supply system, in addition to drought hazard and vulnerability. The application results for South Korea indicated that the MDR coupled with regional response capacity (MDR-RC) was high in the central and northeastern regions, whereas the CDR was high in the southwest regions. A comparison of the regions characterized by high MDR-RC and those that experienced actual drought events and took measures in response indicated that MDR-RC will be useful in drought planning and risk-based decision-making. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.