A prolonged drought has left nearly four million people and 4.46 million livestock short of drinking water in China's southwestern province of Sichuan.

 

Eighty counties or cities have had 20 to 40 days of drought since this summer, according to the Sichuan provincial meteorological bureau.

 

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About 110,000 people have to depend on water transported by vehicles, said the provincial water resources department.

 

Though there were rainfalls in May in the province, they only fell in certain areas, the bureau said.

 

The drought has made it impossible for the plantation of paddy in large tracts of the farmland. Some crops have dried up amid lasting drought.

 

The bureau has dispatched more than 20 work teams to carry out drought-relief work for farmers.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2007)