The current severe drought hitting the southwestern regions of China is likely to persist in Yunnan Province for four continuous seasons, the China Economic Times reports.

The drought, which has been ravaging Yunnan since last autumn, is the severest of any previous drought that has spanned the autumn and winter seasons, according to the province's weather records, the report says.

The drought is expected to keep raging through the current spring season and the upcoming summer, Yunnan's provincial weather bureau says. The bureau also predicts one out of four people in the province will be in danger of being without drinking water this May due to the unusually fierce drought.

The report says the drought has made it difficult for 7 million people in Yunnan to access drinking water, and more than 7 million are suffering from food shortages due to the drought's effects on early spring crops.

The ongoing drought has also impacted the province's waterways, including Jinsha River, which is the upper section of Yangtze River, with water levels declining and water-borne transport coming to a halt.

According to the earlier statistics published by Yunnan's provincial bureau of civil affairs, as of February 25, more than 13 million people in the province had been affected by the drought, and 3 million of them were in immediate need of rescue efforts by the government. The drought has caused Yunnan a direct economic loss of more than 10 billion yuan, or US$1.5 billion.

As the drought lingers on, governments at various levels in Yunnan have also doubled their efforts to fight this disaster, according to the report. Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, for instance, is planning to allocate 95 million yuan, or US$14 million, as special funds for the drought.

(CRIENGLISH.com March 20, 2010)