China's Ministry of Civil Affairs Tuesday warned of fire risks on the upcoming Tomb-Sweeping Day, especially in southwestern provinces where severe drought has hit millions of hectares of farmland.

Dou Yupei, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, said the country faced "severe challenges" in fire prevention in those regions and urged local civil affairs bureaus to step up cooperation with publicity departments, the police and firefighting agencies to work out plans for emergencies.

It is a tradition for Chinese to visit family graves during China's Qingming or Tomb-Sweeping Day, which falls on April 5 this year. Memorial activities range from burning paper money to setting off fireworks.

Dou also encouraged people to use other mourning methods such as laying flowers, or performing memorial activities at home or through websites.

Severe drought has plagued southwest China for almost six months, affecting 61.31 million mu (4.09 million hectares) of farmland as of March 5 and at least 15 million people are short of drinking water in the worst-hit regions of Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Chongqing.

In 2008, the government made Tomb-Sweeping Day an official holiday in response to public appeals. The Civil Affairs Ministry estimated more than 120 million people turned out for memorial activities last year.

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