An exception will be made for parents who survived 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 quake, 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, 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.

WorldServe's Director of China Ministries reports that there are many orphans now, since many parents died during the earthquake. Our friends said that there are at least 30 orphans in a village they’ve recently passed through, and there are many, many more such villages.

Let us help these innocent little ones through supporting the China Earthquake Relief Fund

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