More than 90 million people are being affected by the worsening
drought in southern and eastern China, sources with the Ministry of
Civil Affairs said Wednesday.
The drought, which started in June and intensified in July, is
the worst in the last three decades and is still affecting areas of
southern China.
Twelve provinces and regions -- Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan,
Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Guizhou,
Yunnan and Shaanxi -- have been worst hit by the disaster in the
past two months.
More than 7.7 million hectares of farmland in southern and
eastern China have dried up and more than 90 million people and 6.8
million head of livestock have been affected by water shortages,
according to the latest statistics released by the ministry
Wednesday.
This year's rainy season in southern and eastern China was
several days shorter than the previous years with the precipitation
in those areas being noticeably lower.
Continuous sizzling weather with temperatures of over 40 C has
affected many areas of East China's Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian
provinces and Central China's Hubei and Hunan provinces for more
than two weeks, the ministry said Wednesday.
Many small reservoirs and rivers are drying up in Fujian,
Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangdong, said the Central
Meteorological Station.
These provinces are short of water and electricity, and the heat
is damaging rice paddies and orchards.
However, the latest weather forecast has brought good news for
the drought-hit areas.
Rain will fall all over China for the next three days, relieving
the south from the prolonged sweltering heat, the Central
Meteorological Station forecast yesterday.
Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu yesterday called on governments in all
localities to work harder in drought relief and ensure drinking
water for urban and rural residents and livestock in drought-hit
areas.
Hui, who is also head of the State Flood Control and Drought
Relief Headquarters, urged officials to take all means to stop
sunstroke, prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases and guard
against fires in the drought-affected areas.
Hui stressed the importance of modern technology in disaster
prevention and called for the building of a comprehensive disaster
relief system at the first plenary meeting of the China
International Disaster Relief Committee yesterday in Beijing.
The country's rice production is expected to decrease due to the
long and lingering drought in the south, according to Ministry of
Agriculture officials.
The State Cereal and Oil Information Center predicted that with
the decrease of rice planting areas and due to bad weather, rice
output will decrease to 168 million tons this year, down 3.7 per
cent compared to last year.
However, the center said the influence on the domestic rice
market should be slight as the country has sufficient rice
reserves.
A heat wave has plagued huge areas of southern China since late
June. The drought will affect the planting and growth of late rice
crops. But the drought will have little impact on early rice crops,
which are now ready to be harvested.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2003)