Villagers dredge silt at a water source in Beiping Village of Shiqian County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Aug. 2, 2011. The severest drought in 52 years in Shiqian has left 146,000 people and 51,000 livestocks in short of drinking water, affected 16,000 hectares of farm field and caused direct economic losses of 110 million yuan (about 17 million U.S. dollars). A third-level emergency response plan was initiated Monday afternoon to cope with the drought in Guizhou Province. [Xinhua]