Villagers pull a shabby cart to transport water badly in need in Luanchuan, a county in central China's Hennan Province April 8. The most populous country has been gripped by a sustained drought, which caused severe water shortage to local residents and farmland.

Villagers fetch buckets of water from a river in Luanchuan, Hennan Province April 8.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2007)