Yunnan, Guangxi reel from historic drought
By Chen Jia in Beijing and Wu Jiachun in Kunming (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-04 07:16 The worst drought in 50 years is leaving millions of people and animals without drinking water in Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Zhu Zhenghong, 76, from Niubi village in the mountains outside Kunming, capital of Yunnan, sits on a huge rock outside his home at 10 am and 2 pm every day. “I am waiting for the drinking water sent by the government that is the most important thing to me now,” he told China Daily yesterday. In Zhu’s village, a total of 455 villagers are suffering from the drought, which has killed almost all the corn and bean crops in their fields. “I haven’t seen any rain since last September and the stream on the mountain has dried up,” Zhu said. “We have no more water for poultry and crops. The limited drinking water can only feed people and livestock now,” he said. “The drought might last until the end of April, but the rainwater kept in some villagers’ home can only help them survive for another one and a half months at most,” Li Kun, deputy director of the water affairs bureau of Kunming’s Xishan district, told China Daily yesterday.
The drought relief department in Yunnan has declared a red alert drought emergency for the area. Yunnan’s rainfall since last July has been just over 200 mm, lower than the perennial average and a record low. Other than low rainfall, the province is also experiencing record high temperatures. Average temperatures have been nearly 2 C above normal. “High temperatures and low rainfall have driven wild elephants out of the forest to seek water,” said Li Fuming, who works for the Wild Elephant Valley in Xishuangbanna, the southernmost prefecture of Yunnan. …
