China's northeastern provinces of Jilin and Liaoning
artificially induced rain on Thursday, offering temporary relief
from a severe drought that has lasted almost a month.
Four planes and 78 rocket systems were used to seed clouds and
produce 283 million tons of rain in more than eight hours across
Liaoning. At least 14 areas received more than 20 mm of rain by
noon, according to the provincial meteorological bureau.
The operation was started late on Wednesday, right after rain
started to pelt the thirsty province.
Another large rainmaking operation is scheduled on Saturday,
when a second precipitation is expected to arrive, said Chen
Yanqiu, deputy head of the bureau.
Almost 1.6 million people and 750,000 head of livestock in 14
cities, 89 counties and 914 townships are suffering water
shortages. About 2.05 million hectares, or 49 percent of the
province's crops, were affected by drought, the worst in 56
years.
In neighboring Jilin, 140 million tons of rainfall were
artificially induced on Thursday.
However, the effort failed in some of the worst-hit areas where
the rain vaporized before it reached the ground, said Jin Dezhen,
director in charge of the rainmaking program.
People in Jilin have been fighting the worst drought in history
since early June.
Water supplies had resumed to more than 150,000 rural people and
210,000 head of livestock by Wednesday, leaving 470,000 people and
400,000 head of livestock short of drinking water before the
rainmaking effort. Almost 78 percent of crops in the province were
affected.
The local government has allocated 370 million yuan (US$48.6
million) to the drought-relief campaign.
(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2007)