by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(May 22, 2008) The draconian policy of the Chinese government limiting families to one child is only adding to the grief of thousands of Chinese earthquake survivors who lost their only child in the disaster.
The death toll from the massive May 12 earthquake that has killed more than 40,000 people in China claimed the lives of hundreds of children who were the sole heirs of their parents.
In an effort to control population growth in the world’s most populated country, Chinese authorities began enforcing a one-child policy in 1979. A population minister recently praised the program, saying that it has already prevented 400 million children from being born.
But that was before the 7.9 quake devastated Sichuan province while thousands of China’s precious few children were still in class and their schools collapsed on top of them.
In Dujiangyan City, more than 300 students were feared dead when Juyuan Middle School collapsed with 900 children inside. A similar number died at the city’s Xiang’e Middle School.
Meanwhile, thousands of anguished parents wait for days while rescue workers dig through the rubble, hoping their children might be found alive. For every child saved, hundreds more have been found dead.
“There were screaming parents, and as the bodies would come out they were trying to identify whether it was their child or not,” said Jamil Anderlini of London’s Financial Times. “And once they — the parents — realized it was their child, obviously they collapsed in grief.”
The same sad story is being repeated throughout the area where more than 32,000 people are still missing and an estimated five million are left homeless.
In the wake of the disaster, the Chinese government called for three days of national mourning to honor the victims of the quake, while Catholic dioceses close to the epicenter began taking stock of the destruction of their property.
An estimated 100,000 Catholics live in the diocese of Chengdu, which was very close to the epicenter of the quake. Most of their churches were damaged or destroyed. The parish closest to the epicenter, Piankou in Mianyang-Beichuan, was completely destroyed. The parishes of Qingxi, Dashi, and Hengliangzi in the counties of Guangyuan and Qingchuan are considered heavily damaged with many buildings at great risk of collapse.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is working alongside Caritas Hong Kong in and around the capital city of Sichuan to identify the scale of devastation and loss, and ways to best provide immediate and long-term support for survivors.
“Given the trauma and grief that so many Chinese families are facing,” the CRS said in a press release, “Caritas Hong Kong is also coordinating a team of personnel to provide counseling.”
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