Abstract: To handle increasingly severe basin-scale drought systematically,this study develops the Yellow River basin drought response system facing the entire process of drought. A drought index is designed based on the evolution of drought. Drought,water demand,and runoff are forecast using the Weather Research and Forecasting model and regression analysis. The drought limit water level is set in the multiyear regulating storage reservoir to realize interannual compensation of water resources. After the characteristics of flood and sediment stages are identified,the staged flood limit water level is applied to increase the utilization of flood resources. A synergetic optimal operation model of cascade reservoirs is developed to allocate water resources in order to resist drought. The case study indicates that the drought response system in the Yellow River basin can prevent severe damage from drought by balancing the damage among different years. Compared with the actual situation,this system could increase 2.24 billion m³ of the water supply in 2014 when severe drought occurred. The drought response system has been applied in the Yellow River basin,enhancing the capacity for regulating basin-scale water resources to handle drought.