Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced measures Tuesday to mitigate the severe drought in the northeast.

Rousseff said more tank trucks would be sent to the region and new cisterns would be built.

The drought, believed to be the worst in 50 years, is affecting several states in the northeast of the country. In some areas it has not rained for more than a year.

The number of tank trucks in the area will grow from 4,746 to 6,170. The distribution of tanks is coordinated by the army.

In addition to 270,000 cisterns already built, 240,000 new ones would be made available by year-end, 130,000 of them would be delivered by July, said Rousseff.

Cisterns big enough for agricultural production and animal husbandry would be built as well, in order to prevent the significant loss of cattle, she said.

The government has spent 9 billion reais (4.5 billion U.S. dollars) to mitigate the drought's impacts, said Rousseff.

She said that it was necessary to prepare for the possibility of a much longer drought. Endi

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