Quake-ravaged Wenchuan incomes exceed levels before the disaster

GUANGZHOU - Even as reconstruction efforts is still continuing in Sichuan province's Wenchuan county, the epicenter of the May 12, 2008, earthquake, local residents' income has exceeded the pre-disaster level, an official said on Tuesday.

"Though various economic indicators haven't yet reverted to the level before the 8-magnitude quake, statistics show the income of Wenchuan residents has increased significantly," Zhu Yaozhong, deputy director of the development and reform commission of South China's Guangdong province, said at a press briefing.

The county's urban residents' per capita disposable income reached 12,780 yuan ($1,870) in 2009, 35 percent higher than 9,450 yuan in 2007.