(6 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of news conference
2. Cutaway of media
3. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zhang Shi-feng, Vice Director of Social Welfare Office - Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs:
"Vaguely speaking, or carefully speaking, the number of orphans this time should be under 2000 and above 1000. This is for sure."
4. Mid of reporters
5. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Zhang Shi-feng,Vice Director of Social Welfare Office - Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs:
"Our way of handling this cautiously, is meant for the protection of rights from both sides. As for when this process would start? It would all depend on the identification of the orphans."
6. Cutaway of media
7. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
Child welfare institutions will be set up in each quake-hit city or prefecture in Sichuan Province to shelter those orphaned by the disaster, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on Friday.
The Vice Director of the ministry's Social Welfare Office, Zhang Shi-feng, said the size of the institutions has yet to be decided, as the total number of orphans is not yet known.
"Vaguely speaking, or carefully speaking, the number of orphans this time should be under 2000 and above 1000" said Shi-Feng
On Tuesday, Beijing began giving compensation to some families whose children died in the quake. Around 144 US Dollars per year will be paid to each parent who lost their only child.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs also announced that parents who had lost their only child had first priority in adopting children orphaned by the disaster.
For those orphans left totally alone, adoption, foster homes, orphanages and social welfare institutions would be other options.
Suspicions between the government and grieving parents have grown since the quake, but Shi-feng defended the Government's response.
"Our way of handling this cautiously, is meant for the protection of rights from both sides. As for when this process would start? It would all depend on the identification of the orphans" he said
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 earthquake has risen to more than 69 thousand.
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