Drought has seared wide areas of eastern and southern China and will likely continue in the weeks to come.

Approximately 6.7 million hectares of land in east China's Fujian Province have been affected by the drought, including 8,970 hectares seriously affected and nearly 1,200 hectares scorched. A total of 70,000 people are short of drinking water, local drought relief authorities said on Wednesday.

At mid-November, 35 of the province's 67 major cities and counties (including county-level cities) had recorded no rainfall for 16-31 consecutive days, and 25 counties and cities had seen no rain for more than 45 days in a row. There has been no rain in Fuzhou, the provincial capital, for more than 2 months, the authorities said.

Fujian has set aside 12.76 million yuan (US$1.6 million) and enrolled 161,000 people to combat drought, the authorities added.

Precipitation averaged only 15.7 millimeters in east China's Zhejiang Province between Oct 1 and early November, down 82 percent on the seasonal average, according to the provincial meteorological observatory.

Meanwhile, the average temperature in Zhejiang stood at 21 degrees Celsius in the period, 2.8 degrees higher than average, the local observatory said.

Earlier reports said that since early September, a severe drought has continued in eastern Shandong province, leaving over 1.9 million people short of drinking water, according to local drought relief authorities.

The drought has affected more than 2.67 million hectares of crops and left over 1.15 million domestic animals short of drinking water, the sources said.

Shandong has only registered 18 mm of rainfall in the past two months, 81 percent down on the historical average for the period, the sources added.

As one of China's major granaries, Shandong accounts for one-tenth of the country's total grain output. Plans for 3.33 million hectares of winter wheat have been withered by the autumn drought -- 233,000 hectares have not been planted and much of the planted wheat is suffering from the drought.

The province has invested 700 million yuan (US$87.5 million) in anti-drought efforts, in addition to the over 14 million yuan allocated by the central government.

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been also affected by a severe drought, which is likely to persist this month because of unseasonably warm temperatures, according to water resources authorities.

Since August, the drought has plagued 78 of the region's 84 counties, including county-level cities, the sources said.

From mid August to early November, rainfall in Guangxi ranged from zero to 156.8 millimeters, 20 to 90 percent below seasonal averages.

Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 6, temperatures averaged 24 degrees Celsius in the region, 2.5 degrees higher than a year earlier.

Water stored at reservoirs dropped to 4.8 billion cubic meters, just 48 percent of their storage capacity.

The regional government has earmarked 10 million yuan (US$1.3 million) for emergency water supplies and for the use of oil and electricity to combat aridity.

Drought has hit other parts of China recently. According to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), rainfall of less than 20 millimeters was recorded in northeast and north China, the valleys of the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze rivers, as well as parts of central and south China in October.

The rainfall in these areas was 50 to 90 percent down on the monthly average, while the temperature was two to four degrees centigrade higher, according to the CMA.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2006)