Photo taken on March 27, 2010, shows the aerial view of a drought-stricken lake in Xiangyun County, Dali, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The drought has lingered in southwest China for months, affecting 61.3 million residents and five million hectares of crops in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan provinces, Chongqing Municipality and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. (Photo: chinanews.com.cn)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan-funded companies and the local Taiwan merchants association have donated 1.46 million yuan (214,000 U.S. dollars) to drought-hit southwestern Yunnan Province, the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office said.

The Wantwant Group has donated drinks worth 860,000 yuan to Yunnan, and another 660,000-yuan worth will be sent to the other drought-hit regions, including Chongqing Municipality, Guangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou.

Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi expressed the mainland's gratitude to the companies and compatriots on the island at a regular press conference.

The drought has left 24.25 million people and 15.84 million farm animals facing water shortages, the Ministry of Water Resources said Wednesday.

Yang said there are no reports Taiwanese companies have been affected by the drought.

According to Yang, the China Red Cross Society promised 120- million-yuan aid for reconstruction work after the Typhoon Morakot -- the worst to hit the island in almost five decades -- last August.

Half of the funds will be used to build infrastructure, including permanent housing, schools and a bridge in the central Alishan Mountain area.

The remaining funds will be spent on building community service centers, restoring forests, and training disaster-prevention personnel, among other projects.