Floods and Droughts: Effects on Groundwater and Humans (Emerging Refugee Crises)

Abstract

Water is a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid states. Water is a very large component of Earth’s atmosphere and also water is the most dominant ‘Greenhouse gas’. It is one of the most plentiful and essential compounds. Without any argument; Water is the most important and essential substance for survival, paradoxically it’s also one of the disastrous things existing on the Earth too, as whenever any disaster strikes, it usually manifests itself through the water. For example; floods, landslides, tsunamis, storms, droughts, waterborne disease outbreaks, etc. These disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense by the time. Amid all these, the floods and the droughts are the most frequently occurring and disastrous events. According to UNISDR 2015, Droughts accounted for 5% of natural disasters, affecting 1.1 billion people, killing 22,000, and causing US$100 billion in damage between 1995 and 2015. These disasters pose both direct impacts and indirect impacts. This paper emphasizes on the effects of both the Floods and Droughts on the Groundwater and how they affect the Humans (a discussion on emerging refugee crises due to these disasters).