BEIJING, July 26: Couples whose only child was killed or seriously injured in the May 12 Sichuan province earthquake may have another, winning an exemption from China’s strict family planning rules, the China Daily said on Saturday.

The standing committee of the provincial People’s Congress passed rules on Friday setting out which couples would be allowed to have more children, the paper reported.

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

Many of the dead were children because the earthquake struck during the school day and many school buildings

collapsed.—Reuters