China Slightly Changes One-Child Policy for Earthquake Victims
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An exception will be made for parents of the southwestern China earthquake. The Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee will distribute certificates to couples whose only child was killed or severely injured during the May 12 earthquake, allowing them to legally have one more child.
More than 65,000 people died in the May 12 earthquake, many of them children. Almost 7,000 classrooms were destroyed, as the earthquake hit on a school day, during school hours.
Families in urban areas, like the one where the earthquake hit, have been limited to one child. Families in rural places can have up to two children. The policy dates to the 1970s, when China was fighting skyrocketing increases in population. The ruling by the Chengdu Committee is the first change in decades.
Family planning chief Zhao Baige said it is common practice to have two or three children in the cities, as reported by the BBC in February.
