This research project will use the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake - which affected 46 million people in western China, caused over 88,000 deaths, and paralyzed the economy of a large part of Sichuan province - to answer the following question: What can government do to ensure that post-disaster recovery is fast, fair, efficient, and sustainable? Managing reconstruction following catastrophic disasters is especially challenging, because of the pressure to rebuild everything in a short time. An effective recovery process can help minimize the long-term effects of a disaster on a community. To accomplish its goal, this project will study the recovery planning and management strategies used at national, provincial, and local levels following the Wenchuan earthquake. It will also survey households to find out about the actual results of the Chinese recovery policies. A bilingual team of researchers will meet with officials and collect recovery documents from all three levels of government, and the household survey will be conducted by Chinese university students.
This research will greatly improve our understanding of recovery management after catastrophic disasters. In order to gain a deep understanding of post-disaster recovery, it is necessary to study events in a variety of settings. A detailed study of the Chinese style of recovery management, in the current era of rapid change in China, will help to broaden our understanding of post-catastrophe recovery management processes. In addition, the Chinese strategy includes some unique aspects that may be worth emulating or adapting to U.S. situations. An important aspect of this project is the research exchange and mutual learning about post-disaster recovery in China and the U.S. Researchers will work closely with Chinese colleagues in designing and executing the field research in China. The Chinese colleagues will have the opportunity to travel to the U.S. to learn about post-disaster recovery policies. The team's previous experiences in studying disaster recovery in other places indicate that this exchange will lead to continued collaboration that will advance the practice of recovery management in both countries. Furthermore, because members of the research team are involved in U.S. recovery practice and policy, the results of the research will influence future U.S. approaches to disaster recovery planning and management.
This award, which became effective on September 1, 2010, is in collaboration with three other awards: 1030332, PI Robert Olshansky, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 1030413, PI Yan Song, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and 1029298, PI Yang Zhang, Virginia Tech. This award also includes sub-awards to Laurie Johnson, Ph.D., and to Sichuan University. In this research, we have explored several related themes. As a result, we have several important points to make, with regard to both post-disaster recovery management and urbanization policies in China. The primary set of findings relate to the challenges of time compression in post-disaster recovery: Tradeoffs of speed versus a variety of other attributes, including construction quality, livelihoods, quality of life for households, stakeholder involvement, accountability, and general measures of smart growth and sustainability. Methods of financing extensive urban development in a short time. Intergovernmental coordination in planning and implementing large-scale reconstruction in a short time. A second set of findings relate to the spotlight that post-disaster recovery shines on existing issues of planning and urbanization. In this case, it reveals some of the characteristics and challenges of planning and development in China: Planning and financing rapid urbanization. Rural consolidation (urbanization of rural areas). Promoting economic development in western China. Public involvement in planning.
