Lingering drought hits SW China's Yunnan

Cracks are seen on the riverbed of a dried-up reservoir in Shilin county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, March 22, 2012. The serious drought in Yunnan has hit 125 counties, affected nearly 8 million people, dried 413 small reservoirs and left 237 small- and medium-sized rivers dried up. There are 3.2 million inhabitants and 1.6 million big livestock facing a drinking water shortage and the production of more than 676 hectares of crop fields is affected by the drought. The direct economic loss has so far reached 3.86 billion yuan ($612 million). This is the third consecutive year for Yunnan to be plagued by drought.[Photo/Xinhua]

A dead mussel lies on a cracked riverbed of a dried-up reservoir in Shilin county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, March 22, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]