Drought leaves nearly 6m Chinese short of water

BEIJING - Drought since mid-June has left about 5.95 million people short of water in 13 provincial-level areas across China, according to a Ministry of Civil Affairs report Monday.

Of those affected, about 4.3 million people live in Guizhou and Hunan provinces, with the rest are in Hubei, Chongqing, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, according to the ministry.

As of 9 am Monday, about 4.03 million people were in need of government assistance, the report said.

The drought has caused direct economic losses of 12.1 billion yuan ($1.98 billion) and affected about 2.09 million hectares of farmland, leading to nearly 350,000 hectares unharvestable, according to the ministry.

The drought has also left 1.72 million livestock short of water, the report added.