The central Chinese government has so far allocated 182 million yuan (26.65 million U.S. dollars) as of Wednesday to fight the ongoing drought, the Ministry of Finance said Wednesday.

The fund has been allocated to the provincial and regional governments of Liaoning and Jilin provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the ministry.

About 182 million mu (12.13 million hectares) of crops across the country suffered serious drought as of 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, 9 million mu less than the previous day, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH) Wednesday.

Drought quickly expanded through northern and northeastern China since late July, as a result of insufficient rainfall and continued high temperatures.

The SFDH said rainfall over the past three days helped ease the drought in some parts of these regions, but some areas were still suffering serious drought which left people with difficult access to drinking water.

The SFDH called for unswerving efforts to combat the drought.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2009)