Worst drought in a century expands in China despite rain

(philstar.com) Updated March 29, 2010 04:57 PM

BEIJING (AP) – Rainfall in southern China provided little respite for millions of residents suffering from the worst drought in a century, a local official said Monday. The army, meanwhile, began delivering water to some of the worst-affected areas. Teams of workers in China’s southern province of Yunnan, which received as much as 1.5 inches (38 millimeters) of water in some areas over the weekend, continued to dig and drill for wells to ease water shortage needs, according to a director at the Yunnan Land Resources Bureau, who would give only his surname Ma. “It has been the worst drought in 100 years, so it will take a lot more than a few rainstorms to ease it,” said Ma. “It has severely dried up our land.” In neighboring Guangxi, which is also seeing its worst drought in a century, two more cities, Liuzhou and Laibin, were added to the list of areas affected by the drought as water levels dropped by as much as 90 percent in some areas, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. About 61 million people have been affected by the drought and 12 million acres (about 5 million hectares) left barren since last year in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangxi, Xinhua said. …

Drought expands in China despite rain