BEIJING (Reuters) - Couples whose only child was killed or seriously injured in the May 12 Sichuan province earthquake may have another, winning an exemption from China's strict family planning rules, the China Daily said on Saturday.
The standing committee of the provincial People's Congresspassed rules on Friday setting out which couples would beallowed to have more children, the paper reported.
"Both officials and ordinary people said parents whosechildren died or were crippled in the quake had to be permittedto have another," said Wang Yukun, vice-chairman of thestanding committee.
More than 87,000 people were killed or are missing as aresult of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake in the mountainousprovince in southwestern China.
Many of the dead were children because the earthquakestruck during the school day and many school buildingscollapsed, triggering calls by parents for investigations ofallegations that official corruption had led to shoddyconstruction.
Chinese officials have faced pressure from many angry anddistraught parents whose only children were killed in thedisaster.
The New York Times reported this week that some parents ofthe 10,000 children estimated to have died in the quake havebeen put under pressure to sign agreements and accept cashpayments in exchange for dropping their complaints.
Government officials have said reconstruction efforts forthe millions of displaced people will take years, and thearduous task has been complicated by aftershocks that continueto rattle the area.
The latest, a series of three jolts that hit the area onThursday, killed one person and injured more than a dozen.
The China Daily report said a Deyang city survey showedthat more than 90 percent of parents whose children were killedin the quake are aged 20-49 and that more than 74 percent planto have another child. The sample size was not disclosed.
The paper cited a provincial population and family planningcommission official as saying more than 5,200 Sichuan parentswhose children were killed or crippled by the quake will get100 yuan (7.54 pounds) a month each, to be paid at the end ofthe year.
(Reporting by Ken Wills, editing by Tim Pearce)
