A total of 13.4 million people and 12 million head of livestock across China are suffering from drinking water shortages due to prolonged drought, statistics released on Wednesday have shown.

According to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFCDRH), drought since the beginning of the spring has so far affected 13 million hectares of farmland.

SFCDRH sources said that, since mid-March, only ten millimeters of rainfall were recorded in Sichuan and Hainan provinces and Chongqing Municipality, and none at all in Yunnan. The drought eased in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province where 20 millimeters of rainfall were recorded.

Drought continued in parts of north, northeast and northwest China due to low rainfall.

Southwest China faces serious water shortages for people and livestock, said Tian Yitang, deputy head of the general office of the SFCDRH.

Tian said, drought since the beginning of spring had left more than 8 million people and 8 million head of livestock short of drinking water in Yunnan, Sichuan and Chongqing.

Drought has aggravated water shortages in north China and would likely affect spring ploughing, Tian warned.

HeilongjiangProvince in northeast China only has 1.8 billion cubic meters of water in 84 local reservoirs, 2.4 billion cubic meters less than the designed storage capacity. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has 1.01 billion cubic meters of water reserves, less than half the total in normal years.

The China Meteorological Station is forecasting little rain in Sichuan, Chongqing and Yunnan in the next ten days and floating dust in northern China.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2007)