Beijing - Prolonged hot weather and severe drought have left 18 million people in China short of drinking water and damaged vast areas of arable farmland.

Chongqing residents camp out in front of the 'Eighteen Step' air raid shelter to keep cool during the extreme heat of the prolonged drought. Prolonged hot weather and severe drought have left 18 million people in China short of drinking water and damaged vast areas of arable farmland.[AFP]

China's worst drought in 50 years has left 18.03 million people in 15 provinces and regions short of drinking water, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Water Resources as saying Saturday.

The drought has also left more than 130 million hectares (321 million acres) of arable farmland damaged and more than 17 million livestock short of drinking water, the report said.

Southwest China's Chongqing municipality and Sichuan province have been hardest hit and meteorological authorities forecast that hot and dry conditions would continue into the next few weeks, it said.

In Chongqing, the temperature has soared above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past month, and it had not rained there for more than 70 consecutive days. Two-thirds of the rivers in the area have dried up.

In Chongqing alone, 7.5 million people lack adequate drinking water while more than 4.8 million people in Sichuan have experienced severe water shortages.

Sustained high temperatures and the lack of rainfall have also brought drought to parts of Guizhou province, also in the southwest and the central province of Hubei as well as Ningxia region and Gansu province in the northwest.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters has allocated 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) to the drought-hit areas, it said.