Southwest China's Sichuan Province is in the middle of a
month-long drought that has ruined 2.61 million hectares of
farmland and caused losses of 4.85 billion yuan (US$ 606
million).
About 37.59 million people have been affected by the drought
while 6.84 million people and 8.5 million livestock are in urgent
need of drinking water, an official surnamed Liu with the Civil
Affairs Administration of Sichuan Province told China
Daily yesterday.
Liu said that so far 129 million head of livestock have
died.
The worst hit area is the city of Suining in the northern part
of the province.
Rainfall from June 21 to July 31 was just 32.9 millimeters, the
lowest since 1947 and only 25 per cent of the normal figure for the
time of year, West China Metropolis Daily reported.
Shanxisi Village in Suining ran out of water on July 17, and the
local fire brigade has been providing them with emergency supplies,
according to the report.
Authorities have allocated 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) for
drought relief operations, according to the website of the Civil
Affairs Administration of Sichuan Province.
In Suining, more than 10,000 officials have gone into rural
areas to help local residents fight the drought.
Xuanhan County of Dazhou has launched a harvest protection
program, guiding farmers to sow xerophilic fungi, a type of mould
that does not require free water to grow, on areas of farmland
where the original crops have died to ensure future yields.
On Tuesday, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered all relevant departments
and organizations to focus on drought relief work, stressing the
importance of the "human-centred" principle, Xinhua News Agency
reported.
The cause of the drought is the combination of sub-tropical high
pressure and a continental anticyclone above the Sichuan Basin, Ma
Zhenfeng, director of the provincial climate centre was quoted by
Chengdu Economic Daily as saying.
The provincial weather bureau indicated that the hot and dry
weather in Sichuan may last until August 15.
(China Daily August 11, 2006)