Drought in Chile

Through its history Chile has been regularly affected by droughts. In the more arid parts of Chile droughts are produced when there are low amount of snow accumulation in the Andes. Chilean coastal basins without snow accumulation are particularly vulnerable to drought.

The territory of Central Chile has been affected by long-term droughts in 1280–1450, 1570–1650 and 1770–1820.

The 1770–1782 period was one of general drought in Central Chile with a total of three non-consecutive years of extreme drought. In 1772 vineyards and cropfields along Mapocho River in Santiago could not be irrigated. This drought led the authorities to begin the construction of the long-planned San Carlos Canal in 1772 to deviate waters from Maipo River to Mapocho River.

In 1924 a drought spread between Coquimbo and Maule Region. In Coquimbo Region (at the time known as Province of Coquimbo) 70% of the wheat from non-irrigated land was lost while in irrigated areas the harvest loss was of 20%. The price of railroad transport of livestock to places south of Curicó was lowered by 40% as there was hardly any grass or plant buds for livestock to eat in Norte Chico.

Rural people in Coquimbo Region flocked around the towns of Illapel, Combarbalá and Ovalle. Later the intendant of Coquimbo claimed that about hundred people had left the province as result of the drought.

The drought faced by Chile between 1968 and 1969, known as the Great Drought of 1968, was one of the largest rainfall deficits in the country during the twentieth century, only comparable to the drought of 1924. The drought had its origin in the low amounts of precipitation that fell in 1967. The area affected by the drought spanned from Atacama Region in the north to Ñuble Province in the south.

The drought created huge losses for cultivations of potato, rice, maize, beans. Fruit trees and vineyards were also affected. 100 thousand cattle and 1 million sheep died because of the drought. Milk, meat and wool output declined. By September 1969 only 250 thousand goats remained from an earlier population of 650 thousand.

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Wikipedia