Stay Thirsty, my Pandas

In a recent article by the China News Agency, reports of a massive drought across China are being dealt with by the proactively by the government. As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the drought had affected 101.28 million mu (6.75 million hectares) of crops, of which, about 15.06 million mu were severely affected. The drought also left 2.81 million people and 2.57 million livestock short of drinking water.The government has responded by sending out response teams and additionally by raising grain prices to aid farmers who find themselves with a fallow harvest.


This shows government response to crises as this issue is truly a desperate situation for millions of Pandas. Without adequate drinking water, some may die of thirst, and though bamboo is still thriving (thank the Chairman!) wheat crops are suffering heavy losses. In response to this, the government has taken action in accordance with inputs (people needing aid), and have produced outputs (response teams and economic measures). Whether these actions will be enough to stabilize this crisis remains unknown as of now, but it poses an interesting question: how does the response of a country who has complete control over many sectors of production differ from that of a country with a larger private sector? After the distaster with FEMA during America's struggle with hurricane Katrina, surely the Chinese have taken into account the power of a more reliable government based solution. We pandas can only hope that this response will be enough to help save the year's crops.