Severe Drought Hits SW China

Women walk through the field where piles of inedible tomatoes are abandoned due to severe drought at the Xiaoxin Village of Shizong County in Qujing City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Aug. 24, 2011. The city is suffering the worst summer drought since records began in 1961. Altogether the drought in provinces of Yunan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan and the municipality of Chongqing has affected a combined 5.86 million hectares of crops in those regions, leaving a total of 12 million people and 9.17 million livestock short of drinking water. [Xinhua]

Ma Guiyun, a local farmer, shows the dried-up crops at the Mayi Village of Shizong County in Qujing City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Aug. 24, 2011. The city is suffering the worst summer drought since records began in 1961. Altogether the drought in provinces of Yunan, Guizhou, Hunan and Sichuan and the municipality of Chongqing has affected a combined 5.86 million hectares of crops in those regions, leaving a total of 12 million people and 9.17 million livestock short of drinking water. [Xinhua]