China-Farmers counting the cost of the earthquake in May 2009.

COST OF 80 SECONDS.

The earthquake in China in May of this year cost 80,000 lives, 4.5 million homes, 50,000 km of roads and railways, hundreds of hospitals and schools as well as millions of chickens and several million pigs in the farming sector.

This monumental disaster is going to cost US$700 billion, in just replacing the infrastructure alone according to government sources in Beijing.

Already the disaster area is looking like one gigantic building site as the people of China have set to the task of re-construction.

The rural farmers have been very badly hit, for those who did not lose family lost their livestock and homes as well as the farm buildings.

The government for the first time in history is offering financial aid to the farmers of China, which is a small blessing in the circumstances.

A week may be a long time in politics, this disaster took 80 seconds on a day in May