Jiuzhaigou re-emerges from earthquake devastation

After more than a year of comprehensive restoration work in Jiuzhaigou Valley, efforts to return the nationally acclaimed scenic area back to its former magnificence are well under way, in a bid to reverse the devastation caused by a magnitude 7 earthquake that hit on Aug 8 last year, according to local officials and experts.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Chinese national 5A-class attraction — the highest level — the valley, located in southwest of Sichuan province, is home to many stunning natural features including lakes, mountains and waterfalls.

The earthquake severely damaged ravishing scenic spots such as the Sparking Lake and the Nuorilang Waterfall, said Zhu Zhongfu, a technician at the scientific research office of the Jiuzhai Valley scenic area.

"The restoration of the Nuorilang Waterfall is like performing a skin graft on the human body," Zhu said, adding that restorers utilized the collapsed rock and soil and other natural materials to repair it.

The waterfall has now been fully returned to its old spectacular self after painstaking scientific restoration, he added.

When it came to the Sparking Lake, experts from local universities were invited to carry out tests with their patented technologies, Zhu said.

Over the past year, new models have been explored for reconstructing and protecting natural heritage sites, he added.

The restoration also extended to the reconstruction of earthquake-hit infrastructure in the region.

The Chuanzhusi-Jiuzhaigou highway, the only route from Jiuzhai-Huanglong Airport to the scenic area, was severely damaged by the quake, the local official said.

The repair work on the transport links is progressing well, but much still needs to be done.

Some 123 kilometers of highway is being repaired at a total investment of 3.34 billion yuan ($481.41 million), a process that is expected to complete by the end of 2020, said Xu Xiantao, director of the highway reconstruction project at the Sichuan Xingshu construction development company.

The work aims to integrate the road with the natural environment, to build a safe route that will work well for ecological tourism, according to Xu.

The work includes construction of another tunnel, being built along the entrance of the Jiuzhai Valley.

In addition, a highway from the city of Mianyang in Sichuan to the valley is under construction. It aims to enable drivers to travel between the two destinations within four hours, said Gao Wenzhong, an official with the transportation bureau in Jiuzhaigou county agricultural department. Next, a comprehensive transportation system—involving construction of a railway, highway and airport—will be built.

The continued reconstruction has also affected local people's lives.

"After the earthquake, about 10,000 locals who earn their living from tourism lost their source of income," said Song Dejiang, a senior Jiuzhaigou county official.

To ease unemployment, the county has launched job fairs and several programs such as job training, according to Song. These programs have helped about 7,000 people get jobs again and offered over 3,000 public service jobs, and will complete training of another 4,000 people, Song said.

Yin Xueying, a resident of Jiuzhaigou county, said she earned over 3,000 yuan a month selling fruit in the scenic area before the earthquake.

"But now I can earn more than 4,500 yuan a month by working at a construction site in the restoration," she said. To date, 106 of a planned total of 114 restoration projects are underway and some 21 have been completed.

Officials said completion of the restoration programs will take place within the next three years and there are additional plans to build more ecological tourism spots, as part of the push to restore and enhance the charms of the valley.

Official data showed that in the first half of 2018, Sichuan earned total tourist revenue of 527.15 billion yuan, up 15.1 percent year-on-year, attracting 401 million domestic tourists and 1.40 million foreign tourists.

In that period, the province initiated 814 new tourism projects, costing an estimated 57.12 billion yuan, an increase of 12.7 percent year-on-year.