Drought Eases in Some Areas, but Summer-Autumn Continuous Drought Still Must Be Guarded Against

A long-awaited rainfall has moistened the parched land of Shaanxi. Not only Shaanxi, but Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces have also announced that their droughts have basically been lifted. Shu Qingpeng, spokesperson for the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that the recent rainfall process has been very beneficial for alleviating the drought in southern Southwest China, southeastern Northwest China, and parts of the Jianghuai and Huanghuai regions, but drought relief work still must not be treated lightly.

At present, drought is beginning to appear in western Northeast China. "Western Northeast China is an old drought-prone area. Before June, precipitation was fairly good, but recently precipitation has been low and temperatures have been high, and the drought may continue to develop." Moreover, according to meteorological forecasts, in mid-to-late August, precipitation in southern Northeast China, northern North China, Huanghuai and Jianghuai will still be low, with some areas more than 30% below normal. Drought in parts of Huanghuai may persist or develop somewhat, and the possibility of a summer-autumn continuous drought cannot be ruled out.

According to statistics from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, as of August 12, the drought-affected area of crops nationwide was 65.89 million mu, with 2.35 million people and 2.54 million large livestock having difficulty accessing drinking water due to drought. The main drought indicators were all below the multi-year average for the same period. "The drought-affected area is in a process of both decreasing and increasing. The fact that drought indicators are below the multi-year average for the same period does not mean that local drought conditions are not severe, and prominent local drought conditions do not mean that drought conditions are severe nationwide," Shu Qingpeng said.

As drought conditions have changed, the central government has cumulatively allocated 560 million yuan in special drought relief subsidies to support localities in launching a "tough battle" against drought and disaster reduction. Since the beginning of summer, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and other provinces (regions) have invested 9.12 million people in drought relief labor, temporarily resolved drinking water difficulties for 1.68 million people, and completed drought relief irrigation over an area of 170 million mu-times. Water conservancy projects have also been fully utilized. Since June 1, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River, the Three Gorges Reservoir on the Yangtze River and the Danjiangkou Reservoir have respectively replenished 5.7 billion, 131.1 billion and 3.1 billion cubic meters of water to downstream areas. These measures have reduced the impact of the drought, but Shu Qingpeng said that the problems exposed by the drought cannot be ignored. "Henan has received less rainfall, but not all places in the province are affected by drought. The irrigation districts along the Yellow River with relatively complete water conservancy facilities have basically not experienced drought. Areas with severe drought have no large reservoirs, and even few medium and small reservoirs. The consequence of lacking regulation and storage capacity is that drought conditions may appear after half a month without rain."

Drought relief and disaster reduction require not only a "tough battle" but also a "protracted war." The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Water Resources, together with the Ministry of Finance, have issued the 2014 construction tasks of the "National Drought Relief Planning Implementation Plan" and 10 billion yuan in special central government subsidy funds for the construction of small reservoirs, drought-relief emergency reserve wells, and water diversion, transfer and pumping projects, focusing on enhancing local drought relief capacity in the long term.