China Restricts Volunteer Efforts to Help Earthquake Victims

The government of China has restrained private efforts to aid victims of last May’s earthquake in Sichuan province, putting a brake on an unprecedented wave of volunteerism that swelled in the wake of the disaster, reports the Associated Press.

Private relief groups that sprang up to channel volunteer efforts and a flood of donations have been left short of funds, and many of the groups now face hard-to-navigate registrations and government suspicion of their work, the news agency says.