24 August 2022.
Introduction:
China is facing its biggest drought ever. Drought has dried up rivers and affected power generation at hydroelectric power plants. There is darkness in small and big cities due to no electricity.
Highlights:
After 64 years, China faced the longest summer and as a result, the Yangtze, the longest river in Asia, which is the largest river in China, has dried up. The drying up of the Yangtze has caused water shortages in the dam and affected hydroelectric power, leaving large cities or small towns facing power crisis.
In view of this, the Chinese government last week suspended or limited the supply of electricity to thousands of factories in Sichuan. Following which companies such as Toyota, Foxconn and Tesla have temporarily suspended operations at some of their plants set up in China.
Drought has affected at least 2.46 million people and 2.2m hectares of agricultural land in China’s Sichuan, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Chongqing prefectures. At the same time, according to China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, more than 780,000 people are in need of direct government assistance due to the drought.
Due to this drought after so many years, China has suffered a direct economic loss of 2.73 billion yuan in July alone, affecting 5.5 million people.
Yangtze River
- It is the longest river in Asia and third-longest in world.
- This river is also the longest worldwide to flow entirely within one country.
- It originates from Jari Hill in Tanggula Mountains in Tibetan Plateau and flows for 6,300 km in east direction to drain into East China Sea.
- It is considered as sixth-largest river by discharge volume in world. The river drains one-fifth of China’s land area