Tuesday, July 31, 2007


Jul. 31, 2007 (Xinhua News Agency delivered by Newstex) -- 1st Ld-Writethru: Severe drought leaves 1.2 million people thirsty in central China

CHANGSHA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Sustained drought over the past four weeks has caused a water crisis for 1.2 million people in central China's Hunan Province, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Drought is plaguing 120,000 square kilometers in the province, more than half of its total area, said sources with the provincial flood control and drought relief office.

This has caused a water shortage for more than 1.2 million people and 700,000 head of cattle in 14,000 villages, they said.

In Guangrong village, Xinning County, the 600 residents have to trek six kilometers to fetch water from the neighboring village, which they carry on horseback.

Hunan Province has received about 544 mm of rainfall in the last two months, 25 percent less than the average for the rainy season, the provincial flood control and drought relief office said.

Since July 1, the average rainfall has measured only 20 to 50 percent of the average volume.

Lack of rain has left most of the province's 2.04 million water storage facilities half-empty, and 859 reservoirs have dried up.

The crisis has cut the province's daily power generating capacity by 20 million kilowatt-hours. The provincial capital Changsha has suspended power generation at all local hydropower stations to save water for drought relief.

Cities like Changsha, Xiangtan and Henyang have carried out 189artificial rain operations.

The province has also called up 46,000 cadres and 2.39 million laborers to join the drought relief campaign.

Yet the provincial meteorological bureau has forecast temperatures will hover around 37 to 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the province in August.

High temperatures in neighboring Fujian province have also caused a drought, affecting the drinking water supplies to 130,000 people and 32,500 livestock.

The daily highest temperature of Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, exceeded 35 degrees Celsius for the 31st consecutive day on Tuesday, the longest since the city began recording meteorological data in 1880, according to the Fujian flood control office.

Thirty-four cities in the province reported temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius, with Xiamen and Shanyou breaking their records of highest temperatures in July.

The authorities in drought-hit areas in Fujian are digging more wells to help residents deal with water shortages.

A month-long drought is also crippling the eastern Jiangxi Province, where 820,000 people and 460,000 head of livestock have been suffering drinking water shortages.

The drought has also affected 394,700 hectares of farmland, 31,300 hectares of which were ruined.

The province has allocated 100 million yuan (13.16 million U.S. dollars) to the disaster relief effort.

Newstex ID: XIN-0001-18545636


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