Quake no big hurdle to economic growth

The May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province has caused big losses in both human lives and properties. In the affected areas, millions of houses collapsed, the transportation, electricity, telecommunication, water supply and gas supply facilities were destroyed. In Sichuan Province alone, 14,207 enterprises were hit by the quake, causing a loss of 67 billion yuan.

Professor Niu Wenyuan, a scientist with Chinese Academy of Sciences, estimated that the overall losses of the earthquake in economic terms would reach 130-150 billion yuan ($18.8-21.7 billion).

It takes some time to get an exact measure of the losses caused by casualty, the destruction of public facilities and property, damage to reservoirs, dams and hydro-electricity stations and of the dislocation of transportation, businesses and other commercial activities. But one can say even at this stage that the local economy in Wenchuan and its neighboring area has seen sweeping destructions, from which it is unlikely to recover anytime in the near future.