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| 四川基本完成灾后恢复.Wei Hong, vice-governor of Sichuan province, speaks at a press conference about post-quake reconstruction work, Beijing, Feb 24, 2012. |
四川基本完成灾后恢复.Southwest China's Sichuan province announced on Friday that it is wrapping up its restoration and reconstruction work after the 2008 magnitude-8 Wenchuan earthquake, saying the local people's living standard has surpassed pre-quake levels.
The government has realized the goal of "home for every family" and no "zero employment" family in the quake-affected area, vice-governor Wei Hong said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday morning.
Local authorities repaired and rebuilt houses for more than 5.4 million households and helped 1.7 million quake-affected people find jobs.
All 200,000 farmers whose housing land and farmland were lost to the earthquake have been relocated within the province, Wei said.
In terms of the quality of new houses and buildings, authorities said the design and construction strictly followed national standards, especially quake-resistance standards.
"We have sent quality supervisors to every village where 30 houses collapsed to ensure the quality of rebuilding. All the houses you see now are safe to live in," said Yang Hongbo, chief of the provincial housing and urban-rural development department.
The government has also promised to create more job opportunities for local people as many jobs brought by the reconstruction work will "disappear" with the completion of the restoration.
Measures being considered by authorities now include employing quake-affected people on government-invested projects, creating public service jobs, and encouraging people to start their own businesses, according to Wei.
Authorities said there were 1,449 people who were left without family after the Wenchuan quake, including the elderly, orphans and handicapped children (630 of the 1,449 are orphans). Some of them were sent to child welfare houses or retirement homes, while the rest were adopted by their relatives or other people.
"The government will continue to help these people and let them enjoy social security benefits," Wei said.
Wei also said Sichuan province has received 20.1 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in donations from home and abroad. The money was used according to the intention of the donors or to build schools and hospitals etc.if the donors did not specify. The provincial government published how the money was used on its official website in 2010.
