2.5 million Chinese suffering from drought

Due to the ongoing drought situation, 5.16 million acres of crops have been damaged, according to Xinhua.

The local governments in the affected regions must make efforts to monitor drought conditions, speed up construction of water projects and grant subsidies to the drought-affected population, said Chen Lei, deputy head of the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief.

The National Meteorological Centre has forecast the drought may worsen in the next two months.

The drought-hit north China and regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers would receive very little rain in February and March, it said.

Since last Autumn when the drought began, authorities have assigned 9.55 million people and 2.15 million sets of drought-fighting machinery to draw 8.2 billion cubic metres of water to irrigate the crop land.