Newborns breathe life amid death

PENGZHOU, Sichuan: Surrounded by dilapidated houses and rubble, the neatly lined tents could be mistaken for makeshift shelters for quake survivors, but for the occasional cry of babies.

With patients from all over Pengzhou's towns and counties, the Pengzhou Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital (now reduced to eight tents) has seen the birth of 57 babies, 22 of whose mothers are from the quake-hit areas, since last Monday.

The births have brought some cheers in the gloom amid the destruction. "The newborns have brought a very special feeling," says Xie Li, a physician at the hospital.