Severe drought in China has left 7.53 million people short of
drinking water, according to the Office of the State Flood Control
and Drought Relief Headquarters.
The office announced on Wednesday that the drought had affected
164 million mu (10.9 million hectares) of arable land, 30 million
mu more than the same time last year and left 5.08 million head of
livestock short of drinking water.
The hardest-hit regions were the provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north
China and the provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south
China.
It added that more than one third of the arable land in Jiangxi,
Heilongjiang and Hunan were affected by the drought.
Cheng Dianlong, deputy chief of the office, said the drought
would become more severe and expand to other areas with high
temperatures and no rainfall expected in the next few days.
Meanwhile, the south of China has suffered severe flooding.
Floods, landslides and mudflows triggered by torrential rains have
killed more than 700 people nationwide.
(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2007)