A drought hitting several Chinese provinces has left 4.8 million
people and 4.8 million livestock short of drinking water, according
to the state drought relief headquarters.
Eleven million hectares of crops have been affected by drought
in Gansu, Hebei, Henan and Liaoning, as well as other provinces in
northeastern, northern and northwestern China, the headquarters
said yesterday.
The drought has caused a shortage of potable water for 500,000
people in north China's Hebei Province, said the province's drought
relief office.
More than 200 small reservoirs have dried up, the office
said.
From May 1 to 13, the average rainfall in Hebei was only eight
millimeters or just 55 percent of normal rainfall, while the
average temperature was 25.7 ℃, three to five
degrees higher than normal.
The water resources authority of Handan, in southern Hebei, has
decided to divert 20 million cubic meters of water from Changzhi in
neighboring Shanxi Province in the next two months to alleviate its
water shortage.
"Little rainfall and higher-than-normal temperatures are the
main cause of the drought that began at the end of last month,"
said Ye Dianxiu, a meteorologist.
Average temperatures over the past month have been one to 2
℃ higher than
previous years while rainfall was down 30 to 50 percent in most of
the drought-affected areas, Ye said.
He said the drought would continue for at least another 10 days
as no significant rainfall is forecast.
The average temperature last month across China was 11.1 ℃, 0.9 degrees higher
than normal for the period, according to the Central Meteorological
Observatory.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2007)
