The drought has resulted in a shortage of drinking water for 7.34 million people and 6.75 million heads of livestock, said the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Friday.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces in North China have 129 million mu (8.6 million hectares) of farmland affected, accounting for 83 percent of the total area suffering drought.

About 370 reservoirs in the provinces and region went dry. And 14.76 million mu (984,000 hectares) of farmland in Inner Mongolia can not be inseminated due to water shortage, said the headquarters.

The drought in the four provinces and region is more serious than previous years and the situation in some areas is even near the worst record in history, it said.

By now the four drought-hit provinces and region have spent 730million yuan (US$91.1 million) easing the natural disaster, said the headquarters.