Villagers wait to collect buckets of water from a neighboring town
(Photo courtesy of People's Daily Online)
Clear blue skies, radiant sunshine, and an average temperature of sixty degrees have blessed Kunming almost daily for the past six months. (A little different than the winter Missouri has experienced, huh?!) The “Eternal City of Spring” has definitely held true to its nickname; however, the old adage is true – too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Kunming’s apparent blessing of bright blue skies has produced negative consequences as the city is now facing its worst drought in over 100 years.
To date, the drought in the Yunnan Province has affected over 50 million people. (Equivalent to the sum of the populations of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana). And according to China Daily, 16 million people and 11 million livestock are lacking adequate drinking water. Zhu Yong, of Yunnan’s Meterological Authority said that the province has seen 58% less rain fall since last September.
Last night, JianJuan and I watched the Kunming news, and they reported that many village elementary schools have run out of water. Their cisterns are empty, and they have no water to give the children during the school day. Even if there is water, the schools limit each child to one bottle for the entire day. Water is so scarce in some villages that it is only used for drinking and for the animals. One villager interviewed said he had not bathed in six months due to the lack of water.
School children waiting in line for their 1 daily bottle of water
(Photo courtesy of People's Daily Online)
JianJuan said that many people in her hometown are suffering from the drought. Not only is there little water in the village, but many people are facing devastating crop losses. JJ (as I like to call her) is from a rural, farming community, where the main source of income is agriculture. The water deficit has caused many of their crops to die. Her village is just one of many to face financial difficulties due to the drought. According to the China News Service, direct losses have surpassed 19 billion yuan (2.7 billion USD).
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to Yunnan this week to survey the damage; his visit focused on the Degehaizi reservoir, which is essentially dry. Not only did he observe the severity of the drought, but he also used his time to encourage the villagers, promising that help was on the way. The government has allocated funds to help transport water to the rural villages. However, the scope of the drought is so vast that many people are still suffering.
In some of Yunnan's more remote areas, villagers have to walk up to 20 kilometers in order to buy water at high prices, then carry the water home on their backs. Residents in the area where Premier Wen visited are currently forced to make a four-hour ox cart trip to get water
from the nearest town.
But the water crisis is not isolated to the rural villages; Kunming has reported that its water reserves will be depleted by the end of May. Meaning, if it doesn’t rain within the next two months, Kunming will also have a severe water shortage.
Please think of the people in Yunnan who are suffering because of the drought. Ask that He send rainfall soon.
Premier Wen examines a dried-up river bed in Yunnan
(Photo courtesy of Kunming Information Hub)
A Yunnan man hauls two pails of water from a dangerously low river
(Photo Courtesy of China Digital Times)
