Droughts are more damaging when they occur during crop growing season. This research assessed the spatial distribution of drought risks to crops in Bangladesh. Catastrophe theory-based weighting method was used to estimate drought hazard, exposure, and risk by avoiding potential human bias. Ten major crops, including eight different types of rice, wheat, and potato, were selected for evaluation of drought risk. Results showed that 32.4%, 27.2%, and 16.2% of land in Bangladesh is prone to extreme Kharif (May-October), Rabi (November-April), and pre-Kharif (March-May) droughts, respectively. Among the major crops, Hybrid Boro rice cultivated in 18.2% of the area is found to be highly vulnerable to droughts, which is followed by High Yield Varity (HYV) Boro (16.9%), Transplant Aman (16.4%), HYV Aman (14.1%), and Basic Aman (12.4%) rice. Hybrid Boro rice in 12 districts, different varieties of Aman rice in 10 districts, and HYV Boro rice in 9 districts, mostly located in the north and northwest of Bangladesh, are exposed to high risk of droughts. High frequency of droughts and use of more land for agriculture have made the region highly prone to droughts. The methodology adopted in this study can be utilized for unbiased estimation of drought risk in agriculture in order to adopt necessary risk reduction measures.

This study developed an integrated disaster risk assessment framework (IDRAF) to measure disaster risk at the local administrative boundaries in Malaysia. The proposed framework can enhance government effort for disaster risk reduction by implementing an integrated disaster risk framework and guiding decision makers to properly evaluate and analyze risk for mitigation, preparedness, and planning. The framework was developed, expanding from the multi-hazard spatial overlapping and Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability Assessment in Europe (MOVE) theoretical framework. There are five significant phases to develop this framework: problem formulation, data collection, multi-hazard characterization, multi-dimensional vulnerability characterization, and weightage determination. The IDRAF proposed for Malaysia consists of eight hazards and six vulnerability dimensions, which consist of 16 factors (or vulnerability group) and 54 indicators. The multi-hazard characterization has two components: frequency of occurrence and spatial interaction. The multidimensional vulnerability characterization reduces vulnerability indicators using principal component analysis (PCA). Measuring integrated risk is an effective strategy at the local level or national level to assess the potential disaster impacts in detail and accurately. This study will offer explicit knowledge and boost community competency, creating techniques and tools to analyze various risk factors and vulnerability indicators for decision makers and practitioners.