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 project researches on the disaster recovery process of the Wenchuna earthquake of May 12, 2008, which affected 46 million people across 170,000 square miles of western China, caused more than 88,000 deaths, left nearly 5 million people temporarily homeless, and paralyzed the economy of a large part of Sichuan province. China acted swiftly to form an intergovernmental framework to manage the immense challenges of planning, implementing, and funding of both the post-earthquake response and recovery. Results of this research help to inform intergovernmental management for disaster recovery, particularly large-scale, catastrophic disasters. This research achieved two major objectives: • to advance the theoretical understanding of the disaster recovery process and management of recovery, and • to develop a management framework for coordinating agencies within a 3-tiered governmental structure (i.e. national, state/provincial, and local) in addressing both short-term recovery and long-term redevelopment challenges of large-scale, catastrophic disasters. 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: (1) There is tradeoff 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; (2) It is essential to develop a range of methods of financing extensive urban development in a short time; and (3) Intergovernmental coordination in planning and implementing large-scale reconstruction is key to responding to disasters 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: (1) The recovery process is in general consistent with the rapid urbanization process and policies in China; (2) The recovery process is also consistent with the general trend of higher level and urban and rural consolidation in China -- in other words, the affected areas is right in the "window of opportunity" for redevelopment and fastened urbanization; (3) The affected area, mostly less developed prior to the earthquake, has also been provided with economic development opportunities; and (4) Public involvement in the planning stage strengthens level of compliance at a later stage in construction and plan implementation.
