BEIJING - A drought that has parched China's southern regions since last month has left nearly 13 million people without easy access to drinking water, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Thursday.

A man scoops fish from a partially dried-up pond in Xinchang county, Zhejiang province August 13, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

Continuous hot and rainless weather in the provinces of Anhui, Hunan, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Hubei and Zhejiang, as well as Chongqing municipality, has caused total crop failure on around 900,000 hectares of farmland.

The drought caused a direct economic loss of nearly 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion).

Hunan and Guizhou are the worst-hit regions where 3.35 million and 2.98 million people respectively are facing water shortages. The provinces suffered 14 billion and 9 billion yuan in direct economic losses.