When a drought strikes, the ramifications can be costly. Individuals, communities and the environment can suffer when rain fails and water supplies diminish. Devastating droughts during the last decade have brought increased attention to the slow-creeping natural disaster and prompted more and more communities, stakeholders and agencies to become proactive in their approach to preparing for the next drought.

For many of these groups, holding a drought scenario-based exercise has become a key starting point in developing or updating their drought plans. This year, the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), based at the University of Nebraska, with support from the National Integrated Drought Information Center (NIDIS), created a resource to help these groups select and begin planning an exercise for their community or organization.

These structured, interactive activities let participants plan and manage conditions and events that could evolve during droughts. By using a plausible, hypothetical scenario, exercises offer a risk-free way to learn about drought, experiment with decisions, and build consensus through workshops, table top exercises and games.