In addition, all damaged temples have been reinforced or reconstructed in the province, said Zebazo, the provincial vice governor.

In Shaanxi, four severely-affected counties, including Ningqiang and Lueyang, have completed more than 95 percent of the rebuilding. Mu pointed out that not only have living conditions improved through the reconstruction process, but the economy has rebounded strongly.

"The local economic growth has recovered, or even outperformed the level before the quake," Mu said.

Shaanxi Vice Governor Jiang Zelin said the province's Hanzhong and Baoji cities, which were affected heavily by the quake, is now more prosperous as rural residents' annual disposable income was 1.8 times the amount before the disaster, while those of urban residents was 1.7 times the level.

Gross domestic product of the two cities last year hit 148.58 billion yuan, 1.7 times the amount before the May 12 quake in 2008. Reconstruction in Shaanxi has helped create 260,000 jobs over the past three years, Jiang added.

Furthermore, GDP growth in the 39 quake-struck counties in Sichuan was 1 percentage point higher than the provincial level. Per capita income growth for urban residents was 3.4 percentage points higher than the provincial level and that for rural residents was 4.4 percentage points higher than the provincial level.

Wei said the Sichuan provincial government would further allocate 3 billion yuan in the next three to five years to help over 1,200 villages eliminate poverty in the quake zones.

According to the country's general reconstruction plan, the rebuilding in the quake zones is expected to be fully completed by the end of September, Mu said.

At the press conference, Mu also extended his gratitude to Japan and other countries and international organizations for their assistance after the quake.