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Drought Hits Most Areas of China
Chinese people in many places of the country are making continued efforts to fight serious drought in a view to ensuring crop harvest this year.
According to the flood control and drought relief headquarters of Wuhan, the most important industrial city on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, more than 170,000 hectares of crops are affected by the drought, accounting for 60 percent of the city's sown area. Some 110,000 people and about 50,000 heads of livestock are suffering from a shortage of drinking water.
The local authorities have called on the people of the capital of central China's Hubei Province to contribute to the drought- combating effort.
Up to now, 500,000 people, along with 20,000 sets of machines, have been organized, and some 54 million yuan (about 6.51 million US dollars) has been spent for the purpose.
Chongqing, the most important industrial base on the upstream of the Yangtze, has reportedly incurred more than one billion yuan (about 120 million US dollars) economic losses from the drought this year.
Sources from the municipal flood control and drought relief headquarters said that this southwestern Chinese city has witnessed an abnormal weather featuring less rainfall, high temperature and big evaporation. Up to now, the volume of water stored at different water-conserving facilities throughout the city is just 1.7 billion cu m, about 900 million cu m below the regular level.
A total of 730,000 hectares of crops are affected, and more than two million residents and two million heads of livestock are challenged by a short supply of drinking water.
According to the sources, 34 service teams and a large amount of drought combating materials have been sent to drought-stricken areas across the municipality.
In Shanxi Province, north China, where drought has been continuing and expanding since three years ago, 3.5 million hectares of crops are affected and more than 3.2 million people are suffering from a shortage of drinking water.
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