Parents who were crippled in the Sichuan earthquake have been given the right to have another child. Those whose only child was seriously wounded in the quake can also have another, local authorities have announced.

On Friday, the standing committee of the Sichuan provincial people's congress passed the long-awaited implementation rules on which quake victim couples were eligible to have more children.

Yang Guo'an, chairman of the education, science, culture and public health committee of the congress, said the decision is in line with people's wishes and the requirements of the State Council.

A large number of parents whose children died or were crippled in the quake had shown a strong desire to have more children, he told the media.

A survey conducted in the city of Deyang showed more than 90 percent of parents whose children were killed in the quake, are of childbearing age (20-49 in China). More than 74 percent of them plan to have another child. The sample size was not disclosed.

According to the Deyang population and family planning committee, some parents went to the committee just days after the quake, consulting policies pertaining to the birth of new babies. But they had to wait for the detailed rules from the provincial commission.

"Both officials and ordinary people said parents whose children died or were crippled in the quake had to be permitted to have another," Wang Yukun, vice-chairman of the standing committee of the Sichuan provincial people's congress, said.

Meanwhile, the more than 5,200 Sichuan parents who lost their children or whose children were crippled in the earthquake will get 100 yuan ($15) a month each, a provincial population and family planning commission official said on Friday.

He Tiangu, deputy director of the commission, said at a press conference in Chengdu that parents will get the subsidy at the end of the year.

It is designed to help parents who lost their children or whose children will not be able to support their families in the future.

In June, authorities in Chengdu said they would pay the subsidy to parents in the city, but this has now been extended to the whole province.

Earlier regulations said parents with just one child would get 60 to 120 yuan a month, depending on their employers, until the child is 18. They would also get a one-off payment of 1,000 yuan, when they turned 60.

(China Daily July 26, 2008)