BEIJING, Mar. 1-- China's biggest island Hainan is suffering from a severe drought, which has affected 555,000 people.

Residents of rural areas have found getting drinking water difficult, sources with the provincial drought prevention and cure office said.

It is expected that urban residents will each be offered no more than 100 litres of water a day, to help those affected by the drought, according to the provincial plan for combating drought which becomes effective today.

At the Changhua Township of the Changjiang Li Autonomous County, more than 500 villagers dug holes in the dry reservoir to reach dirty water because they were so desperate for a drink, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The reservoir, the only one in the town, was empty, like all of the wells.

There are nearly 40 holes, each 50 centimetres deep, in the reservoir, though many of them have run out of dirty water.

In Changjiang County, 22,600 rural residents and 9,100 domestic animals were short of drinking water.

Farmland of 196,200 hectares, or 46 per cent of the province's total, suffered from a lack of irrigation water.

To fight against the drought, an investment of 49 million yuan(US$5.9 million) has been injected so far.

Some 635,000 labourers, 47,300 pieces of equipment and 4,300 vehicles are involved in the current operation to help people and animals get daily drinking water from rivers, underground water or rainfall.

Meanwhile, rainfall was artificially initiated using rockets in five cities and counties in Hainan on Sunday to help ease the thirst of the drought-stricken island.

Lingshui experienced a downpour of 200 millimetres.

The Chitian Water Reservoir in the coastal city Sanya, a famous tourist attraction, received rain of 100 millimetres.

It is expected that the island will experience light rainfall in the coming week.

But experts warned that the rain will not be of much help in alleviating the situation.

Thirsty residents in Hainan pulled together in this time of trouble to help each other through the difficult period, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

At the Naban Village of Chengmai County, nearly all of the wells were dry except for the one owned by village head Song Lei.

The rest of the villagers had to go to Song's home to get water early each morning.

Because the villagers were so tired, Song spent 1,800 yuan(US$220) on a steel water tower.

He pumped water from his well to the tower every day. Water was then sent to each house in the village.

Currently, all of the villagers are able to drink clean water at home.

Staff at the Hainan provincial government and the municipal government of the provincial capital Haikou began to donate money to residents in drought-stricken areas.

(Source: China Daily)