BEIJING, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Nearly four months an earthquake killed nearly 90,000 people in China's Sichuan province, only two of 88 orphans eligible for adoption had found a new home, local officials and state media said on Monday. Tens of thousands of Chinese families offered to take in orphans after the May 12 disaster, but most had found homes with relatives, leaving just 88 to be put up for adoption. One reason for the lack of families coming forward was that many of the orphans were handicapped, the China Daily said. And many of those eligible for adoption are between 10 and 14, though most of those intending to adopt prefer children under six, the report added. The two boys who had been adopted were aged 10 and 13. Of 532 children who lost their parents in the magnitude 7.9 quake, 240 are under 14 and most have grandparents or other relatives as guardians. Only 88 in the hard-hit cities of Deyang, Mianzhu, Mianyang and Guangyuan and the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture had no relatives to care for them, the newspaper said. (Reporting by Yu Le; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Residents play mahjong in a store along a flooded street near the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province September 2, 2008. At least five people were killed and three others were ...
