A 24-member reporting team headed by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) President Zhou Mingwei paid a visit to Beichuan in Sichuan Province to witness the great changes brought about by rebuilding efforts in the three years since the 8.0-magnitude earthquake.

Wang Xiaohui (1st right), vice president of China.org.cn, talks with two foreign jounalists. A 24-member reporting team headed by China International Publishing Group (CIPG) Vice President Lu Cairong pays a visit to Mianzhu City and Shifang City, severely hit by a devastating earthquake in 2008, to report the local residents' daily life over the past three years behind the reconstruction miracle.[Photo: Yang Jia/ China.org.cn]

The reporting team, including CIPG journalists from the U.S., France, Spain, Japan and Russia were deeply impressed by the tremendous achievements of the reconstruction work.

The earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead, or missing, presumed dead, and caused huge economic losses. But the speed of the immediate response from the Chinese government, as well as later reconstruction efforts, astonished the world.

According to statistics released by Chinese officials, within ten days, temporary homes that would eventually house 15 million people were being built; within 100 days, transitional shelters that would house 12 million were completed; within one year, the homes of 3.55 million households had been reinforced and repaired; and within two years, the house rebuilding program for both rural and urban residents was almost complete.

Wenchuan these days is sporting a brand new look. The economic growth of the quake-affected areas has recovered to, or is even outperforming, pre-quake levels, and residents' annual disposable income has significantly increased.

"China has taken only two years to complete the reconstruction of areas hit by the quake, a pace that no other country could match. The whole world has witnessed China's miracle, which left useful disaster recovery experiences and deserves to be studied by other countries," Mr. Muhammad Hassan, counsellor from the Pakistan Embassy in China said.