More than 7,400 people in the south-central Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan have been left with a shrinking supply of fresh water due to severe drought conditions, local authorities said Wednesday.

A total of 1,738 households with 7,446 residents across the province, some 340km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, are now in dire need of water, Tran Van Tuan, an official from the provincial steering committee for natural disaster control, said during a meeting with the Water Resource Directorate.

The affected people are mainly from Thuan Bac, Ninh Hai, Ninh Son, and Bac Ai Districts, Tuan added.

A dead sheep is seen in the dried-up Ong Kinh Lake in Ninh Thuan Province, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

About 578 sheep, 105 goats, and two cows were killed from the beginning of February to April 10 due to the lack of food and water, the official continued.

Eleven out of 21 reservoirs across Ninh Thuan have run dry, with only 120.5 million cubic meters of water left in the remaining supplies, according to Phan Quang Thuu, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Local residents have been advised to cease their farming activities in order to save water resources for their daily use and for their cattle.

A farmer takes care of her sheep in Bac Ai District, Ninh Thuan Province, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The agriculture department has called on the central government to provide six water tankers, each with the capacity of 10 cubic meters, to aid local residents and to establish a system to pump water into such dried-up lakes as Ong Kinh and Phuoc Nhon.

Nguyen Van Tinh, head of the Water Resource Directorate, advised that Ninh Thuan authorities compare this year’s drought with the situation in previous years to figure out suitable measures to cope with the disaster.

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