Drought affects 5.7 million people in Central China's Hubei

WUHAN -- A severe drought since June had affected more than 5.7 million people in Central China's Hubei province as of Friday, according to the provincial emergency management department.

As of 3 pm Friday, drought conditions triggered by sustained hot weather and low precipitation had impacted 84 county-level areas in the province.

In addition, a total of 218,100 people had difficulties accessing drinking water, while 690,470 hectares of crops had been damaged due to the drought.

To cope with the situation, Hubei activated a level-IV emergency response for natural disaster relief at 5 pm Friday, the lowest level.

The provincial emergency management department has also dispatched working groups to affected areas to guide local drought relief efforts.