DROUGHTS

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

—Rev. 11:6

1223 A Setting For Drought

Almost one-eighth of the world’s land surface is considered arid, having no more than 9.8 inches of annual rainfall. The Sahara Desert in North Africa is the largest desert in the world. Its greatest length stretches 3,200 miles from east to west.

1224 Longest Recorded Drought

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest drought on record lasted for 400 years from the sixteenth century to 1971 in Chile’s Desierto de Atacama.

1225 West Europe’s Experiences

1976 was known as the “Year of the Drought” for much of Western Europe. It was the worse drought since 1921. On top of that, the hottest temperatures on record in some areas made life even more miserable.

Drought damage to West Germany was at 2 billion dollars. French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing called it a “national calamity.” The dry weather had affected two-thirds of France. It may take up to five years to rebuild herds in France. In Britain, rainfall was the lowest since record keeping began in 1727, and June of the year was the hottest in 130 years!

1226 Drought In The US

In the United States, the Kansas River had only 1.4 feet of water—lower than at any time in living memory. In California, it was the worst drought in 125 years. In the Great Plains stretching from Texas to Canada, the shortage of irrigation water had forced abandonment of vast acreages to the desert. Lack of moisture resulted in a 61% increase in land damage from wind erosion. And so on. Drought is an ever-present danger.

1227 Fast-Moving Desert

The desert is on the move. Right across Africa the Sahara is creeping south at an average rate of half a mile a month—in some parts four times as fast.

A 4000-mile belt below the desert is affected by drought. Animals die, crops wither, people starve. Survivors crowd into a dwindling area of Savannah grassland, where overgrazing speeds the process. When rain does fall, it comes in sudden downpours which do more harm than good by washing away what little topsoil there is.

Whole countries in the Sahel, the semi-arid zone below the Sahara, are threatened with extinction. Weather experts predict that the earth is in for decades of low rainfall, which may turn richly cultivated areas into dustbowls.

1228 Possible Drought In Asia

In India, more than 70 years ago severe droughts occurred about every fourth year. As the earth warmed throughout this century, the monsoon rains of India failed only an average of once every 18 years, vastly improving the country’s ability to feed its swelling population. Some climatologists predict that as tem peratures slowly cool, the trend in India and throughout Asia will be toward greater frequency of drought.

1229 Legend Of Tantalus

In the ancient legend, Tantalus offended the gods. So his punishment was eternal thirst—and he was tantalized. He stood in water up to his chin, but when he tried to drink, the water receded. Luscious fruits hung before him and tantalized him, but when he reached for them, they moved away and eluded his grasp. That was as stupendous a punishment as the mind of classical antiquity could imagine!

See also: Springs and Fountains ; Water Shortages ; Weather Changes .