Drought Affects 500,000 People in China (August 2014)

[JennyLeez]

Drought affects half a million in Xinjiang

A prolonged drought in northwest China's Xinjiang has left about 200,000 people in need of emergency aid, including drinking water, said the region's civil affairs department Saturday.

In seven counties of the Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Ili in northern Xinjiang, more than half a million people and 3.46 million head of livestock have been affected. Some 7,700 cattle have died. Rainfall since May in the Ili valley has been about 50 percent less than in previous years.

Herders are concerned how their livestock will survive the winter due to the destruction of fodder by the drought. Over 4.3 million mu (287,000 hectares) of crops and 22.8 million mu of pastures have suffered, with direct economic losses of 4.3 billion yuan (700 million U.S. dollars).

The Ili government has earmarked 10 million yuan for irrigation, digging wells and transporting drinking water for people and cattle.

Shandong suffers its worst drought in 50 years

Along with parts in the northeast of the country, China's Shandong province is experiencing its worst drought in half a century.

Even the drought resistant peanut cannot bare the persistent dry weather.

In the city of Anqiu, one of the key producing areas of corn and peanuts in Shandong province, there are seedlings without seeds.

"I'm very worried about the crops. Usually at this time of the year, corn seedlings are high, but this year they are hardly growing."

The timing of the dry spell is particularly challenging for the agriculture industry when the grain needs water the most.

"Over 50 percent of the crops are affected by the drought in Anqiu. And more than 2 thousand hectares of crops have no yield," Zhang Xinhua, agronomist with Shandong Anqiu Agricultural Bureau, said.

The lingering drought has caused a severe shortage of surface water. To tackle the problem, local power supply stations have built new electric lines for 2 thousand irrigation wells.

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