China: Drought causes 7.5 million people to lack drinking water

According to the China Flood Control and Drought Relief Office (SFDH), the prolonged and widespread drought in the north, northeast and south of the country has made at least 7.5 million people and 5 million heads of cattle lack drinking water.

Drought also affected 11 million hectares of planted land, 1.7 million hectares more than the same period last year. Of these, about 89% is the area of ​​crops.

Cheng Dianlong, deputy director of SFDH, said the most severely affected areas are Heilongjiang and Jilin (northeast), Inner Mongolia (north), Jiangxi (east), and Guangxi (southern). and Hunan (central region).

In Heilongjiang, Jiangxi and Hunan, drought has affected at least one third of the land area, causing great damage to the agricultural sector. Cheng also said that in the past month, rainfall in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and some areas in the eastern and southern regions, rainfall is only half of the annual rainfall.

SFDH forecasts that the drought situation will continue to worsen when forecasted, it will not rain in the next 10 days.

Farmers carry water from a drying lake in Wangcheng District, Hunan Province on July 31, 2007 (Photo: Reuters)

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