Sadness and rebirth in earthquake ruins
- Source: Global Times
- [01:59 May 13 2010]
- Comments
Jiayu, who was born in 2009 after the earthquake, beams in her father's arms as the family mourn their son Wednesday in the debris of Beichuan county. The man lost his son in the deadly quake two years ago. Photo: An Baijie
By An Baijie in Beichuan
After burning paper money as a symbolic offering to his dead son, who was buried under the debris of the Qushan primary school, 38-year-old Fan Zhiquan withdrew to a stone bench near the road, sat down to mourn the loss of his only son, and then began to tease his little baby girl.
It was a day to mourn the past and look to the rebirth of Sichuan Province.
The debris-covered site in Beichuan county was opened Wednesday, the second anniversary of the deadly Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, for people to mourn their loved ones killed in the disaster.
Fan's 10-year-old son, then his only child, perished in the quake and was buried under the collapsed school building.
"If my son were still alive, he would be 12 years old now," Fan said, with a long sigh. "But it's time now to just forget about these sad things."
Several months after the boy's death, Fan's wife became pregnant and gave birth to a girl on June 27, 2009. Fan named his newborn baby girl "Jiayu," which means " beautiful jade of the family".
Jiayu was one of the babies born after the earthquake, when the government initiated a program called "full services for the newborn," which encouraged the parents of dead or disabled children to give birth to a second child.
The government provided free maternity services to the mothers from initial pregnancy until delivery of their newborn babies. As of the end of April, more than 2,000 babies were born to the devastated families, the Xinhua News Agency said.
"I really appreciate the government providing the free services," Fan said. "But I hope more preferential policies can be created to help us out, because raising a child will cost too much money."
As a truck driver working for a private coalmine nearby, Fan earns about 3,000 yuan ($440) each month. He is the only breadwinner in a family of four. His mother is in her 70s with no income, and his wife quit work to take care of the baby.
Life used to be easier for Fan before the earthquake.
In the past, he owned a truck worth 150,000 yuan ($22,000) and could keep up mortgage payments on a 100 square-meter apartment. The earthquake destroyed everything he owned.
