VIETNAM: Record drought threatens livelihoods
foto: AQVIVA
HANOI, 5 March 2010 (IRIN) – As temperatures rise in Vietnam, a nationwide drought has dried up riverbeds, sparked forest fires and now threatens one of the world’s richest agricultural regions, upon which millions depend for their livelihoods.
“The Mekong Delta is facing a serious drought,” Nguyen Minh Giam, deputy director of the National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Centre for the southern region, told IRIN.
Water levels on the Mekong River are at an almost 20-year low, largely as a result of the rainy season ending early and a precipitous drop in water flow upstream, he said.
With virtually no rainfall in the north since September, fires have burned through the northern provinces of Lao Cai and Lai Chau. In central Vietnam, sustained temperatures of about 38 degrees Celsius have sent hundreds to local hospitals.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?Reportid=88320
