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Farmers barrel drinking water supplied by the local government at Chengguan Township in Ruyang County of Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, February 4, 2009. Effective rainfall was nearly 80 percent less than in the same period of previous years. The local government has allocated some 25 million yuan (US$3.65 million) for drought relief and crops protection. [Xinhua] |
The severe drought that has spread to 12 provincial regions since November will not end soon, a senior official from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said Friday at a press conference.
Zhai Panmao, director of the prediction and disaster mitigation department of the NMC, said it had been over three decades since a similarly prolonged drought had struck winter wheat areas and said global warming was to blame.
Even so, Zhai predicted some of the drought regions in north China would experience light rainfall over the weekend.
