17 healthy babies bring hope amid devastation

Seventeen babies have been born in the Yiliang County People's Hospital since the earthquake on Friday, and all nine boys and eight girls are healthy, a hospital nurse told China Daily on Sunday.

Hu Fang, 20, gave birth to a boy in the hospital on Friday just as the earthquake struck the county.

The hospital moved Hu and her baby from the ward into a tent after the earthquake. She needs to remain in the hospital for three to four days to make sure her condition is stable after the caesarian birth.

The temperature hit 33 C in the county on Sunday.

Hu's boyfriend, 22-year-old Pan Huaibin, who was cooling his baby with a fan, said his family had several adobe houses in Luozehe township, which is about 15 kilometers from Yiliang.

"The earthquake destroyed all the houses, so now I can't have my wedding there. Now my parents live in a makeshift tent in the hill," he said.

The baby also needs to stay in the tent because of the continual aftershocks.

According to Yunnan Information Daily, five of the babies born in the hospital after the earthquake have already left because their families wanted them out of the tents.

Ye Zifa, president of the hospital, said that the earthquake cracked the walls of the inpatient building, so the hospital put 120 inpatients, whose condition was less critical, into tents, including 36 who were slightly injured in the earthquake.

However, 70 people who were severely injured in the quake remain in the wards, he said.

In order to reduce the chances of infection, medical workers have the hospital disinfected three times a day, said Zhu Xinghong, a nurse in the department of gynecology and obstetrics. "What's more, there is an ultraviolet lamp in every tent," she said.

Zhang Chaojing gave birth to a girl in a makeshift delivery room in the hospital's tent on the morning of Saturday.

"The house was shaking greatly when the earthquake came. We all ran to the hill for shelter. I felt pain and went to the hospital that night," she told Beijing Times.

"It's very fortunate that my daughter was born on this day safe and sound. I am not asking for anything more than her health," she said.

Contact the writers at guoanfei@chinadaily.com.cn