A severe drought is taking a heavy toll in China's western,
central and northeastern regions causing drinking water shortages
for at least 18 million people and estimated economic losses of
11.74 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion) as of Thursday.
Approximately 10 million people in the southwestern Sichuan Province, 7.65 million in Sichuan's
neighbor Chongqing Municipality and 600,000 in
northeastern Liaoning Province don't have access to
sufficient drinking water.
All the 21 cities in southwestern China's Sichuan Province
except Panzhihua have been affected by the drought which has caused
total economic losses of 8.87 billion yuan (US$1.11 billion), the
provincial disaster relief office said Thursday.
Many villagers living in mountainous areas are walking two
kilometers to get water while some towns have been using vehicles
to transport water in to affected areas, the office said.
The drought has affected 2.07 million hectares of farmland and
caused crop failure of 311,300 hectares. Agriculture businesses in
Sichuan have suffered economic losses of 7.96 billion yuan (US$1
billion). The Sichuan meteorological bureau forecast that the
drought would continue in the coming days.
In Sichuan's Dazhou City alone more than 5 million people have
been affected and around two million in 20 counties under the city
have encountered difficulties getting drinking water.
Dazhou suffered severe droughts in 2004 and 2005 which caused
losses of over 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion). Since early July
the drought has caused at least 1.3 billion yuan of economic
loss,? the death of 11,000 farm animals and destroyed crops on
400,000 hectares of farmland around the city.
The worst-hit area is the southwestern Chongqing which has had
no rain for more than 70 consecutive days and where two-thirds of
its rivers have dried up, local drought-relief authorities said
Thursday. They added that one person had died of heatstroke.
The mercury has been hovering above 35 degrees Celsius over the
past month in Chongqing and the thermometer hit a record 42 degrees
in the past week.
About 1.3 million hectares of crops in Chongqing have been
affected with agricultural economic losses reaching 1.93 billion
yuan (US$241 million), according to local authorities. The drought
has resulted in 2.87 billion yuan (US$358.8 million) in economic
losses in the municipality.
In Chongqing more than 7.65 million people in 40 counties have
been running out of drinking water since the severe drought started
in mid-May.
"The village well has dried up and even the dusty water at the
bottom has been scooped up," said Gu Qixiu, a villager in Zhangguan
town of Yubei District. "The townsfolk have been sending us water
wagons and each family gets two buckets of water a day." Gu said
the arid cropland was unlikely to yield a cent this year. "Even
sweet potatoes refuse to grow in the arid land."
"This is the worst drought to hit Chongqing in 50 years," said
He Lingyun, a disaster relief official with the municipal
government. "Two-thirds of local rivers and lakes have dried up and
more than 200 reservoirs are stagnant."
Local governments have mobilized 5.8 million people and
allocated 140 million yuan (US$17.5 million) to help residents
fight the drought by tapping ground water and improving
conservation facilities. Water supplies for more than 3.6 million
people and three million head of livestock have so far been solved
thanks to the drought-relief efforts.
Other areas of China being affected by the drought are Liaoning,
Hunan and Guizhou provinces and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region while water
supplies for Shanghai and other cities in the eastern region are
declining.
The hot weather and drought also strained power supplies in
eastern and southern China. A blackout was enforced in the eastern
city of Hangzhou to protect its power transmission grid after
temperatures topped 38 degrees Celsius.
Power use in the country has soared in recent summers as private
homes, shopping malls and hotels with newly acquired air
conditioning use up increased amounts of
electricity.??
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)
