Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the Lushan 7.0-magnitude earthquake. The total financial losses in the county mounted at over 55.5 billion yuan. And one year on, the county is slowly getting itself back on its feet.

After one year of relief efforts, the people of Lushan County are slowly starting to make progress. This street is the main road in Longmen village and the epicenter of the Lushan magnitude-7 earthquake. After months of living in tents and shelters, many of these villagers now have built houses and hope life in Lushan County will continue to improve.

This was a year ago when the quake took everything from He Ling's family. Now, a two story house building has begun to take shape, and a new landscape is gradually forming; as are the lives of the survivors.

"Now it is much better. The rainy season is coming, so we may be susceptible to falling sick if we stay in the tents or shelters," He said.

Local authorities say the reconstruction phase started last October. It has been 6 months and over 4,000 households have started rebuilding. Like He Ling, residents hope to find jobs in the city, and ease the burden of their house loans.

"After the construction is complete, I want to find a job in the city. We have to find jobs based on our skills," local village Yang Tiyu said.

But for these people who used to work on farms, finding jobs is not as easy as building a house. The local authorities plan to build an industrial park in Lushan county and are acquiring land from the locals. They say the transferred land will provide some incomes for the locals.

"We make the payment for local residences. So an acre of land can be exchanged for 600 kilos of rice. People can choose to accept payments by cash, or by accepting products. It is the individual's choice," local official Ren Dehong said.

It is also the responsibility of the local government to rebuild this beautiful county as well as the strength of its people, speed up the economic recovery and create more opportunities for the locals who are looking forward to re-starting their lives.