Disaster drought hits lives of 90 million ( 2003-08-14 06:40) (China Daily)
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.
Villagers in
Shaoyang County in Central China's Hunan Province ladle out water from the
bottom of a well August 11, 2003. All 54 hectares of field in the county's
village of Dahu have been suffering from severe drought. Many farmers have
to leave the village to search for drinking water.
[newsphoto.com.cn]
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.
The picture
shows the dry and cracked river bed in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang
Province. [newsphoto.com.cn]
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 Centre 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 centre said the influence on the domestic rice market should be
slight as the country has sufficient rice reserves.
A heatwave 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.
