Yunnan has been hit by drought for three consecutive years. 6.31 million people are facing water shortages, with over 2 million facing difficulties in obtaining water and more than 5.5 million hectares of fields affected. Local governments are desperate to cope with the disaster, but there is still no sign of relief. more ›

Though the rain in Shanghai this week has certainly been an inconvenience, the human impact has been negligible compared to the ordeal other areas in China have been suffering. Downpours in Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Anhui provinces began Monday evening, and hit Zhejiang province Tuesday morning. more ›

Floods have taken 21 lives in Guizhou's Wangmo County (望谟县), with an additional 32 people being reported as missing. The torrential downpour that began on Friday has impacted 16 cities and counties in Guizhou province, affecting nearly 400,000 people, with 13,000 hectares of ruined farmland (32,124 acres) and an estimated 1.34 billion RMB in damages occurring in Wangmo County alone. more ›

Fierce hail and wind storms swept through Guangdong province on Sunday, hammering buildings, people, and crops with up to 50mm of rain (about 2 inches), winds reaching over 150kph (93mph), and hail as big as 8mm. 17 people were killed, mostly when walls and sheds collapsed from the winds. Trees were uprooted, houses knocked down, and newsstands said to drift 20 meters. Over 1000 hectares of crops were affected, and estimates put the total cost of damages at around 5.5 million RMB. Pictures above are mostly of Foshan, but Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Dongguan, and many others were also affected. more ›

An earthquake that struck Yingjiang, a county of Yunnan province near the Myanmar border, at 1pm yesterday has killed at least 25 people and injured 250, according to official reports. More than 127,000 people have been evacuated after over 1,000 homes were toppled and another 17,000 damaged. Seven aftershocks so far have followed the quake, and experts still have not determined whether another more serious earthquake could follow. The county has seen repeated tremors over the past few months. The provincial government has sent 9,700 tents, 15,000 quilts, clothes and other relief materials to the victims and evacuees. Many were, and mostly likely still remain, trapped in the rubble, and over 1,000 soldiers have been deployed in a joint rescue operation. more ›

Jessie Chen at Forbes' China Tracker lists the weird things that we get used to living here in China. Unfortunately, it's not stuff like "turning on the VPN" or "watching a kid pee on the street," heading into territory that's more like "mine disasters" and "violent evictions." Still, even if it's being serious, the list is hardly comprehensive. I'd add "useless prostitute busts" and "Premier Wen Jiabao showing up at another possibly man-made 'natural' disaster." You? more ›

As if the floods weren't enough, this year's torrential rains have caused the worst incident of landslides this year to happen in Gansu province. Official estimates released this morning put the death toll of the slides at 137, with 1,348 people still missing. more ›

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Despite weather reports that Typhoon Morakot would swing by our way (which triggered a rush of preparation for floods and damage) it... simply didn't. Yesterday was rainy and gross, but not any rainier and grosser than Shanghai weather normally tends to be. The same could not be said for other areas around Asia. more ›