Chongqing Municipality in south-west China experienced its hottest day on August 16. The temperature in Qijiang County reached 44.5 degrees centigrade, the highest it has been in the 53 years meteorological records have been kept. A record was also broken in the downtown area of the city where the temperature reached 43 degrees.

The local disaster relief office said this is the worst drought to hit China in 50 years and is directly responsible for an economic loss of 2.87 billion yuan to the municipality, including 1.93 billion yuan in the agricultural sector.

As of August 16, a total area of 1296.34 thousand hectares of farmland in 40 districts and counties (including autonomous counties and cities) had been affected by the drought. Of that area, 623.14 thousand hectares were seriously affected and 282.8 thousand hectares had completely dried up. Water supply has been severely depleted in two thirds of the affected townships and 7.6582 million people and 7.0968 million heads of livestock have faced temporary drinking water shortages.

To date, Chongqing has made use of 64,200 emergency water sources which have a capacity of 123 million cubic meters. They have guaranteed the lives of 1.962 million people; beginning in the summer, 170,100 water conservation projects have collectively provided 1.362 billion cubic meters of water, easing pressure on supplies for 3.8645 million people.

By People's Daily Online