Chinese Red Cross Foundation on Friday allocated 1 million yuan (158,800 U.S. dollars) for drought relief in southwestern Yunnan Province.

The funds will go to water conservancy projects in areas hit hard by severe drought.

As of March 20, the drought had affected more than 8.76 million residents and caused an economic loss of over 6 billion yuan, local authorities said.

The charity said it would allocate more funds for drought relief in Yunnan.

Last year, the charity raised nearly 140 million yuan for aiding construction of 492 water projects in five southwestern provincial regions including Yunnan, Sichuan and Guangxi.