汶川大地震5年之后

May 12th marks the fifth anniversary of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in Southwest China’s Sichuan province. Five years after, the quake-hit areas have made huge advances in repairing and developing infrastructure and industry, and helping for those who suffered.

The magnitude 8.0 quake left more than 87,000 people dead or missing. It was one of the largest earthquakes in human history in terms of socio-economic losses. More than 12 million people lost their homes in the quake. But within a hundred days, nearly all had been resettled in alternative accommodation.

During the following three years of reconstruction, Sichuan province authorities completed more than 40,000 rebuilding projects in 142 affected counties. At the same time, the province cleared thousands of geological hazards and relocated around 18,000 farmers from disaster-prone areas. By the end of 2011, Sichuan had built nearly 470 new roads, and rebuilt 29,000 kilometers of rural roads. The projects have so far cost a total of more than 114 billion Yuan.