A farmer at his rice farm which is dying from drought in Phu Yen Province

In Phu Yen Province, there hasn't been any rain in the past seven months and the underground water has dried up.

According to the Phu Yen Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, more than 4,000 hectares of rice are dying in the area.

The Department's director, Nguyen Trong Tung, said that water at local rivers and reservoirs were all at an alarmingly low level.

"The drought is predicted to last until the end of August so we’ll lose more rice," Tung said. "We’ve asked for financial support of VND9.8 billion (USD425,087) from the government to help deal with the consequences of this drought."

In the neighbouring province of Binh Dinh, local authorities reported that 140 out of 165 reservoirs had dried up. 600 hectares of rice have died already while another 11,500 hectares are being threatened.

Phan Van Vinh, a farmer in Hoai An District said that they were still trying to search for water to save their rice.

"We're trying to pump water from nearby rivers or wells into our rice fields," Vinh said. "But the hot weather rapidly dried them out again in a couple of days. We're afraid that the rice will die soon if this drought continues as the rivers and wells are also drying up."

The same situation is going on in some other central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Binh, and Quang Tri.

The agriculture department in Quang Binh reported that nearly 1,700 hectares of rice were now in urgent need of water and it was predicted that over 3,600 hectares will face drought by the end of this season. Meanwhile, only three out of 17 reservoirs in the area have maintained proper water levels as of July.

While trying to save their crops, local people are also living in difficult condition due to water shortage.

In Binh Dinh, 10,062 households are running out of water even for daily use.

Deputy director of Tam Quan Bac Water Plant, Nguyen Khac Thanh, said that they were trying to use large pipes to collect the last water drops from the drying 1,200-hectare Tra O Lagoon.

"The water plant will have to stop operation if there is no rain within the next 10 days," Thanh said, adding that local authorities are helping people to dig more wells to look for underground water. Dtinews

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