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Parts of southwestern China are enduring the worst drought in more than half a century.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Parts of southwestern China are enduring the worst drought in more than half a century.

China's state meteorological bureau has reported the most severe drought conditions in more than 50 years in the southwestern region of Chongqing, and neighboring Sichuan province.

Sustained high temperatures and low summer rainfall have also brought drought to parts of Guizhou province, the central province of Hubei and in northwest Ningxia region and Gansu province, the Beijing News said.

In Chongqing alone, 7.5 million people lacked adequate drinking water and economic losses have been estimated at 2.5 billion yuan (HK$2.43 billion), the paper said.

Authorities are trucking in water after wells and rivers went dry, Xinhua News Agency said, with households in dozens of counties surrounding Chongqing surviving on just two buckets of water a day delivered by water wagons.

Soaring temperatures and low rainfall have laid waste to Chongqing's summer crops, the Beijing News said, with market prices for leaf vegetables soaring 50 percent. Autumn vegetable harvests were also likely to be "severely affected," with dry weather predicted to linger for several weeks.

Chongqing produces mainly cash crops including rice, wheat, corn, oil- bearing crops and soil-based vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots. The scorching weather has prompted state fire prevention authorities to issue fire warnings across the southwest.

State TV reported Sunday that the water level in the Chongqing section of the Yangtze river hit its lowest in 100 years.

REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS