Three years ago, a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan province and laid Wenchuan county in ruins. The city of Chengdu also suffered, as several of its counties, namely Dujiangyan, Pengzhou and Chongzhou were also badly hit. According to official data, the direct economic loss for Chengdu city reached 127.7 billion yuan ($19.65 billion).

However, during the past three years, Chengdu has made tremendous recovery efforts. By the end of 2010, 2,866, or 91 percent of its 3,147 reconstruction programs, had been completed, with the total investment reaching 82.35 billion yuan.

Most of the houses damaged in the quake have already been rebuilt or repaired, with living conditions in the damaged areas greatly improved, even surpassing those before the earthquake in some aspects. Various signs show that the people, as well as the city, are recovering from the tragedy, which is gradually becoming a memory of the past.

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Several lessons can be learned from the Chengdu success, of which the first, without doubt, should be the regulation of assistance. Kind-hearted people from the whole country came to the city not long after the earthquake to aid the people that most needed help and good coordinators, official or not, played an essential role in this process.

Second, several provinces and cities, like Shanghai municipality, Fujian province, Chongqing municipality and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, all offered special funds and completed many recovery projects for the counties hit by the quake.

By the end of 2010, the above-mentioned municipalities and provinces accomplished 378 recovery projects in all, including the construction of basic infrastructure, medical support, education and telecommunications.

Thanks to ceaseless efforts, the general infrastructure has now recovered, even surpassing that before the earthquake. With 3,312 kilometers of roads and 135 bridges being damaged by the earthquake, Chengdu city has had to redesign and rebuild most of the key and branch roads, thus forming a new transportation net. Urban railways connecting Chengdu and nearby cities are also under construction.