## 1 Introduction  
Strengthening the capacity to cope with climate change and increase risk research in vulnerable eco-regions is a popular issue that continues to be of concern to all countries and the public. Global climate change, characterized by warming, has led to increased climate-driven variability in social and economic development, an increased frequency of extreme events, and a chain reaction of disasters [1]. Drought ranks first among all natural disasters directly encountered by humans, and it affects almost all climatic regions [2]. More emphasis on drought risk is warranted due to repeated and widespread droughts throughout the world [3]. In China, drought is the most common of the major climatic disasters [4]. Northern China is located at mid-high latitudes and is highly sensitive to global warming [5]. Drought risk is a product of regional exposure to natural disasters and long-term water scarcity. To reduce the occurrence of severe consequences, drought risk first needs to be analyzed. In particular, vulnerable eco-regions must better understand their drought risk distribution characteristics to minimize the losses caused by drought. In mainstream practice, the development stage of drought risk assessment is divided into three stages: Attention to the hazard factor stage, attention to the social attribute stage of the hazard body, and the comprehensive research stage that combines disaster and social attributes. From the 1920s to the 1980s, researchers generally used the environment as a hazard or disaster to conduct research [6, 7]. However, research at this stage focused on the disaster itself, treating disasters as the uncertain effects of extreme events [8], ignoring the interrelationship between the disaster-tolerant environment and the hazard-bearing body. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers began to pay attention to the social attributes of the hazard-bearing body [9]. [PERSON] (2010) noted that drought is a phenomenon closely linked to climate and society [10]. Natural disasters are not the only factor determining risk, and the ability of society to overcome the difficulties caused by vulnerability also determines risk; vulnerability determines the risk of current and future drought effects. Assessing natural disasters and social vulnerability becomes one of the goals of drought risk management. The historical assessment of drought establishment and monitoring systems has been undertaken to establish a regional estimation method for climate and actual natural disasters. However, most drought risk assessment methods focus on drought risks and vulnerabilities. As an important part of arid ecological risks, exposures need to be considered. From the 1990s to the present, the trend of disaster risk vulnerability research has gradually turned to disaster-based research [11]. Scholars who study the theory of disaster systems believe that disasters are the result of interactions between hazards and the environment of pregnant disasters [12]. The disaster risk in a certain area is formed by the interaction of three factors: Hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Therefore, disaster risk assessments should be based on the above three factors [13]. Using disaster assessment models to assess hazards, vulnerabilities, exposures, and the spatial distribution of drought risks, decision-makers can identify drought conditions and make decisions to reasonably fight against drought [14; 15]. International trends in drought disaster research have shifted from the traditional \"drought disaster crisis management\" to the modern \"drought disaster risk management\" [16]. Drought risk is usually assessed for its impact on human activities, as well as economic, social and environmental systems, with the aim to determine the appropriate actions that can be taken to reduce potential damage [17]. Most of the research mainly uses meteorological elements to assess disasters, and less consideration is given to the environmental and social factors that cause disasters.