A Chinese rescue team successfully pulled a young child from the rubble of the Sky Villa Condominium in Mandalay of Myanmar at 05:37 local time on Monday, marking the second survivor the Chinese rescue team has saved since arriving in the quake-hit city.
The rescued child had been trapped for more than 60 hours following the devastating earthquake, while rescuers reported that the child was in stable condition with normal vital signs at the time of the rescue.
The Sky Villa Condominium has remained a critical focus of the ongoing rescue efforts, with several more individuals believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Chinese rescuers in Mandalay have been racing against time, braving heat and the smell of dead bodies, to win back more lives within the golden 72 hours, with the help of advanced audio and video life-detection equipment to conduct precise and targeted search operations.
In addition, the search and rescue mission has been hampered by frequent aftershocks and the severe structural collapse of buildings, which have posed significant risks to both trapped individuals and rescue personnel.
A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar at around 12:50 local time on Friday, causing significant damage to a number of buildings and roads in the Southeast Asian country.
According to the Myanmar's State Administration Council on Sunday, about 1,700 people died, 3,400 were injured, and 300 remained missing in the massive earthquake.
Chinese rescuers recover second quake survivor in Myanmar's Mandalay
Chinese rescuers recover second quake survivor in Myanmar's Mandalay
Chinese rescuers recover second quake survivor in Myanmar's Mandalay
Chinese rescuers recover second quake survivor in Myanmar's Mandalay
The concept of eco-friendly burials -- ways of laying loved ones to rest that reduce environmental impact -- has grown in popularity among the Chinese people, especially over the past five years.
In China, eco-friendly burials comprise forms such as lawn burials, flowerbed burials as well as tree burials, which require minimal land. Sea burials and biodegradable urn burials that do not take up any land are also popular options.
Analysts believe eco-friendly burials will help to alleviate the strain on land resources, contribute to environmental protection, and also fulfill people's emotional needs for remembering their departed loved ones. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said in 2024, there were 194,700 ecological burials of ashes across the country, up 67 percent from 2019. Among them, 53,500 were sea burials, an increase of 26 percent over 2019, and 141,200 tree burials, an increase of 90 percent over 2019. Today, 28 provinces in China offer rewards and subsidies to families who choose eco-burials.
"More and more people begin to accept land-saving ecological burial methods. China's land-saving ecological burial methods such as sea burials and tree burials have been on the rise every year. China's land-saving ecological burial facilities have become more full-fledged as local governments have increased their efforts to build these facilities," said Liu Tao, director of the Department of Social Affairs under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
April 4 marked this year's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased and to worship their ancestors.
During the period around this festival, people often visit graveyards, where they traditionally pay tribute to the dead by offering food and burning incense and paper money.
In recent years, with the support from the government, many have turned to greener practices, such as offering flowers and lighting electric candles. During this year's three-day Qingming Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday, people across China made nearly 54.34 million trips to burial sites, up 14.3 percent from last year.
Eco-friendly burials take root among Chinese people
