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)