The funds came from the Ministries of Finance and Water Resources; the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Jiangxi are some of the provinces to benefit from the support.

The Liaoning province will receive 543,450 US dollars of said amount to adopt flood control mechanisms.

Apart from approving the budget, the Government deployed specialists and equipment to regions with dry rivers to ensure autumn crops and prevent more deaths from heat stroke.

In the provinces of Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Guizhou and Chongqing, many towns began to build dams to store water, after the drastic drop in river levels.

The situation hinders the supply of water to the population and at the same time constitutes a blow to agriculture, since said provinces are some of the main food producers in the country.

Official figures indicate that China is experiencing its hottest summer since 1961 and the high temperatures may last for another two weeks, threatening the yield of agricultural crops, cattle raising and the stability of the electric power system.

pgh/llp/acl/ymr