Turning to Rain Makers to Ease Drought

June 15, 2001 7:17 am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, desperate to ease the pain of the worst northern drought in years, is seeding clouds to make rain, meteorological officials said Friday.

Shells were launched on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday into the skies in several areas of the north, where many farmers have seen crops shrivel and cities have imposed water rationing, the Tianjin Office of Artificial Weather Inducement told Reuters.

The shells contain silver iodide, which can serve as a catalyst to make rain. Since the barrage began, most areas have only had 10-20 mm of rain, a fraction of what is needed.

"But it is definitely more than there would have been otherwise," said an official at the office in Tianjin just to the east of Beijing.

Millions of people and animals are suffering in a dry spell which has lasted more than 100 days and the showers would not be enough to ease the worst drought to hit some areas since 1949, said an official at the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

China -- where drought is as common in the north as floods are in the south at this time of year -- has been making rain for 20 years, the Tianjin official said.

However, on the streets of Beijing, where the sky went black during one daytime shower on Friday, some city slickers did not believe man was tinkering with nature.

"It's not possible. China doesn't have that kind of technology," said one woman, Li Xiaoqiao, 29.

But when newspaper reports of the cloud seeding were pointed out to her, she said; "In the past, kings prayed for good harvests to justify their rule. I guess this is the government trying to make good things happen."

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2001