Beijing, China, May 27, 2008 / 16:01 pm
Chinese officials have exempted families with children killed, severely injured, or disabled in the devastating Sichuan earthquake from the restrictions of China’s one-child policy. The May 12 quake, which left more than 65,000 dead, was particularly painful for many Chinese because so many children died.
China expert Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, welcomes the policy changes. "Many of China's rural schools are so poorly constructed that they became death traps during the earthquake. The heavy tile roofs simply came crashing down on the heads of the children below. They had no chance to escape."
The Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee, located in Sichuan’s capital, said that families affected by the disaster can obtain a certificate to have another child, the Associated Press reports.
The Chinese government normally enforces its one-child policy by fining couples who have more than one child. However, the committee’s announcement said that if a child born illegally was killed in the earthquake, parents will no longer have to pay fines, though previously paid fines will not be refunded. If a couple’s legally born child was killed but its illegally born sibling survived, that sibling can be registered as the legal child, the authorities explained.