China Suffering Worst Drought Since 1951

Olympic glory aside, 2008 will be remembered in China as a year of massive natural disasters. Between the crippling ice storms that left millions stranded during the Chinese New Year holiday last January and February and the Sichuan earthquake in May that killed 88,000, catastrophes touched a wide swath of the country and caused nearly $200 billion in damage

…”The drought will no doubt exacerbate rural unemployment, because arable land is what most migrant workers resort to when they lose their jobs in the cities, and now their last option is under what’s probably the most severe threat in decades,” says Zhang Xinghua, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Rural Development Institute. “This will also have an impact on social stability, though it’s hard to gauge to what extent yet. But as the overall economy further slows, I think the situation is likely to get worse.”

Time