As the severely hit areas also supply vegetables to Chengdu and adjacent provinces, Xie predicted Sichuan would suffer a shortage of vegetable supplies, particularly in winter.

Industrial losses

Dongfang Electric Corp., a major manufacturer of power generation equipment in China, suffered a loss of 7 billion yuan ($1billion) when its turbine rotor factory in Mianzhu was completely ruined by the earthquake. The turbine rotor business contributed 20 percent of the corporation's revenue last year.

Another pillar corporation in Sichuan, Changhong Electronics Group, had a loss of 149 million yuan ($21.3 million), nearly half of the group's net profit last year that stood at 337 million yuan ($48 million).

According to statistics from the provincial government, a total of 22,428 enterprises suffered damage of varying degrees and economic losses of 200 billion yuan ($28.57 billion). Deyang, Chengdu, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Mianyang, Guangyuan and Mianzhu had a loss of 180 billion yuan ($25.7 billion), accounting for 95 percent of the total losses in the province. The six cities yielded a total of 510 billion yuan ($73 billion) in gross domestic product, or more than half of the province's economic aggregate last year.

The major industries of Sichuan are electric power, natural gas, petroleum, chemicals, food and pharmacy. Power stations and chemical plants were severely destroyed in the quake.

Chen Yao, a researcher with the Institute of Industrial Economy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, predicted Sichuan would need 15.5 megawatts this year and the earthquake would result in a supply gap of 4 megawatts.

Hydropower plants throughout the province used to supply 62 percent of its electricity needs. Coal-fueled power plants will operate at full capacity to meet escalating demands until the majority of hypropower generation capacity is restored. At present, coal-fueled power plants in Sichuan operate with a daily supply of coal equaling only 70 percent of the pre-quake quantity. They are in urgent demand of more coal.

Tourists withdrawal

Most of Sichuan's tourist spots had resumed business by June 21 when the Emei Mountian was opened again to tourists.

The quake resulted in a loss of 62.4 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in the tourism industry in Sichuan, or half of the industry's revenue last year, said Sichuan Provincial Tourism Bureau Director Zhang Gu.

Sichuan has a number of names on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List and many state-level scenic resorts. The earthquake destroyed 568 of the province's 4,000 tourist attractions, and 300,000 workers in the sector were unemployed by the catastrophe.

Transportation is a major obstacle to the recovery of tourism in Sichuan, said Sheng Yi, a researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences. Many roads leading to tourist resorts in mountains are yet to be restored. Additionally, the earthquake has triggered landslides and debris flows in the rainy season, and safety concerns will prevent tourists from visiting Sichuan, said Sheng.

While making tourists worry about their personal safety, the earthquake also has devastated local accommodation facilities. Local tourism industry would take two or three years to recover, said Yang Yang, General Manager of Shanghai Spring International Travel Service Co. Ltd.

Woods' woes

Following the sleet, snow and freezing rain at the beginning of this year, the massive earthquake in May cast another heavy blow on the forestry resources in Sichuan. The industry suffered direct economic losses of 20.94 billion yuan ($3 billion) and indirect losses of 183.1 billion yuan ($26 billion).

Sichuan has rich forestry resources. The Longmen Mountain, which is located in the main earthquake-hit area, is a major giant panda habitat with the richest forestry resources in Sichuan, accounting for 10 percent of the province's total forestry reserves. Due to large-scale landslides, collapses, breakages and burying of woods that occurred during the earthquake, the province's forestry coverage rate may decrease by 2.05 percentage points. This will pose a great threat to the province's achievements over the past years in natural forestry protection and in the project of "returning forests to farmlands," according to statistics from Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Forestry (SPBF). The damages in major giant panda habitats are especially severe.

The mountainous region where forestry resources were destroyed is remote and poverty-stricken. Farmers there used to depend on forestry for more than 60 percent of their net income. The earthquake destroyed large-scale forestry bases, bringing severe damages to local forestry enterprises and reducing the income of local farmers. The disaster even transformed the terrain of the Yinchang Gully Forestry Park in Chengdu and the Qianfo Mountain National Forestry Park in Mianyang, making two precious tourist resources vanish from the face of the earth.

The quake-hit Sichuan also has to face sub-disasters in the woodlands, such as landslides, forest fires, and deaths or injuries of wild animals that could increase the possibility of epidemic outbreaks.

The damage on woodlands would affect the natural and ecological environment because large-scale landslides make it difficult for vegetation to recover on its own, said SPBF Spokesman Luo Zengbin. The main quake-hit areas include habitat for other wild animals under state first-class protection, and biodiversity conservation in Sichuan is facing a tough challenge, Luo added.

"The ecological recovery in quake-hit areas will take a long time," said Luo. "Vegetation in some mountainous regions could take two or three decades to recover, and that in some other places may not be recovered."

Luo disclosed that SPBF has drafted an eight-year plan for forestry restoration and would give priority to areas with available conditions to recover.