Evaluating China's National Post-Disaster Plans: The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake's Recovery and Reconstruction Planning

Transcription

1 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc (2): do: /j ssn \RTICLt Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans: The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake's Recovery and Reconstructon Plannng Yue Ge 1* Yongtao Gu z and Wugong Deng z 1Hazard Reducton and Recovery Center Texas A&M Unversty College Staton TX USA 2Chna Academy of Urban Plannng and Desgn Bejng Chna Abstract The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake caused tremendous casualtes and property losses as well as a substantal need for rebuldng the affected localtes n order to address housng and urban development ssues for the future Chna's central government appled a natonal plannng approach n both the emergency response and the dsaster recovery phases that ams at facltatng the flow of technologcal assstance and fnancal ad from the whole country to the earthquake-strcken areas Ths study revews dsaster management practces n Chna wth an nterdscplnary analyss to see how dsaster plannng and management can be ft nto the top-down government admnstraton system The Overall Plan for Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon and the Cty/I-own System Plan for Post- Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon two overarchng plans ntated by the central government are evaluated by revewng the underlyng facts goals and actons The plans' merts are to be found n ther ncorporatng hazard mtgaton nto dsaster recovery plans and takng nto account dfferent strateges of relocaton and reconstructon The artcle also dentfes the gap between makng plans and meetng local needs the nsuffcency of publc engagement n plan-makng and the negatve plannng mpacts of competton for resources and funds Suggestons for dsaster plannng and polcy-makng are provded wth a focus on buldng a local dsaster management system n Chna Keywords Chna natonal post-dsaster plans recovery and reconstructon plannng Wenchuan Earthquake 1 Introducton 11 Recovery and Reconstructon Plannng Dsaster plannng has become ncreasngly crucal as an effectve human nterventon n achevng sustanable communty development when confronted wth natural dsasters It attracts numerous scentfc studes from varous dscplnes and contrbutes to "Sustanablty Scence" (Clark and * Correspondng author E-mal: gurt@tamuedu Dckson 2003) by studyng the dynamc copng mechansms desgned to manage human-envronment systems for sustanablty under uncertanty (Levn and Clark 2010) Recovery and reconstructon plannng an mportant component of dsaster management systems represents a comprehensve response and proactve adjustment n dsaster recovery whch s part of the "Vulnerablty Framework" proposed by Turner and hs colleagues (2003) Land-use plannng (or urban and regonal plannng) has been wdely utlzed n dsaster recovery practce to buld reslence to natural dsasters (Burby 1998) In rsk management or emergency management t s consdered as one of the best practces of preventon and mtgaton (Leonard and Howtt 2010; Lndell Prater and Perry 2006) Land-use plannng has been readly adopted n post-dsaster plans for communty recovery and reconstructon An analyss of how these plans are desgned and how effectve they are n dsaster recovery processes s essental n understandng dsaster plannng decson-makng and mplementaton Plannng as a drect and standardzed response to natural dsasters n most cases s ntated and mplemented as mandated funded and managed n a top-down fashon (Schafer et al 2008) Ths occurs nternatonally n both centralzed (for example Japan and Tawan) and decentralzed (for example USA) government systems especally when dealng wth dsasters at a regonal or natonal level (Amendola et al 2008; Schafer et al 2008; Wu and Lndell 2004) As the post-dsaster rsk communcaton s ntated by governments dversfed stakeholders become nvolved n the polcy-makng processes whch are prevalent n the dsaster recovery practces of many countres On the one hand the top-down post-dsaster plannng and management mechansm s effectve as a quck and systematc governmental nterventon on the dsaster-affected areas wth fnancal ad relef resources polcy rewards and development prorty settng On the other hand latent polcy-makng problems such as a lack of polcy flexblty and specfcty for localtes are possbly affectng the mplementaton of the state-mandated polces and plans 2010 Bejng Normal Unversty ISSN wwwjdrsorg

2 18 12 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc Vol 1 No Wenchuan Earthquake Chna In the past three years Chna has unfortunately experenced a seres of devastatng natural dsasters begnnng wth the Wenchuan Earthquake Also known as the S chuan Earthquake t occurred on May n Schuan Provnce The epcenter was 80 klometers west-northwest of Chengdu the captal of Schuan wth a focal depth of 19 klometers The earthquake was felt as far away as Bejng (1500 klometers away) and Shangha (1700 klometers away) and also n nearby countres It was defned and reported as a natonal dsaster by the State Councl of Chna Offcal fgures (as of July ) state that people were confrmed dead ncludng n Schuan Provnce and were njured wth an addtonal lsted as mssng The earthquake left about 48 mllon people homeless (reportedly the number could be as hgh as 11 mllon) The affected areas used to have a populaton of 2123 mllon ncludng a large porton of rural resdents and ethnc mnortes such as the Qang Mnorty The Wenchuan Earthquake was the deadlest to ht Chna snce the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake whch caused casualtes On November the natonal government announced that t budgeted 1 trllon Yuan (about 1465 bllon US dollars based on the November 2008 exchange rate) over the next three years to rebuld areas ravaged by the earthquake The 2008 Schuan Earthquake caused tremendous casualtes and property losses and resulted n massve efforts to plan for local reconstructon and urban-rural sustanable development Due to the scarcty of avalable land the physcal and socal vulnerablty of the local communtes and the lack of a natonal dsaster plannng mechansm urban and regonal plannng was pushed to the forefront of the emergency response and dsaster recovery agenda Two natonal recovery and reconstructon plans were followed by a wave of plannng revsons and updates n the local regons and ctes by professonals and experts throughout Chna 13 Research Questons Ths artcle examnes the role urban plannng played n the overall dsaster recovery and reconstructon process and analyzes the plan-makng of the two natonal recovery and reconstructon plans as well as the natonal plannng system n response to a natonal dsaster The plan evaluaton and dsaster polcy and management assessment am to answer the followng questons: (1) Are these post-dsaster recovery and reconstructon plans consstent wth local demands? (2) Are there any bottom-up feedbacks and publc engagement n the plan-makng process? (3) Are these plans ncorporated wth a pre-event mtgaton component? (4) Can these plans potentally cause competton for resources and relef funds? (5) Is there a local dsaster management system nsttutonalzed n Chna? 2 Method Ths emprcal study adopts a polcy analyss research method based on case studes wth an explanatory goal and a focus on contemporary events (Yn 2003) The pertnent data are gathered from prevous lterature government hstorcal data archval data Internet resources and plan texts and maps from urban plannng consultants The study revews dsaster management practces n Chna by ncorporatng an nterdscplnary analyss of urban plannng hazard and dsaster studes and publc admnstraton It analyzes dsaster plannng and management n the context of the current government admnstraton system Two natonal-level plans that were drawn up after the Wenchuan Earthquake were selected for plan qualty analyss and polcy analyss One s the Overall Plan for Post- Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon (Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon 2008) and the other s the CtyTown System Plan for Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon (Chna Academy of Urban Plannng and Desgn 2008) The plan content evaluaton s conducted wth two basc methods One s orented from the perspectve of the dsaster recovery studes towards recovery phase delneaton; and the other follows the plan qualty evaluaton school n the dscplne of urban plannng by examnng the plans' factual bass goals and actons (ncludng polces tools and strateges) The analyses are expected to show both merts and lessons from the plan-makng processes through an evaluaton of the effectveness and feasblty of the plans All the fndngs support the need for a more comprehensve natonal dsaster plannng system for future dsaster plannng and management n Chna 3 Chna's Dsaster Management System Brtton ( ) argued that the noton of a "natonal system" for dsaster management "calls for specfc actons at a central government level" Whle there are sgnfcant dfferences between the poltcal systems of Chna and others n the world the central government n Chna just lke other natonal governments "[does] not automatcally recognze dsaster management as a core functon" (Brtton ) As a geographcally large and dsaster-prone country Chna presents a dversty of economc development levels and a complexty of socal economc cultural ecologcal and envronmental ssues There s an urgent need for a natonal dsaster management system to drect the admnstratve authortes havng to deal wth dsasters/emergences n provncal prefectural and muncpal governments In the hghly herarchcal admnstratve system of Chna the sngle

3 Ge et al Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans 19 poltcal party has great nfluence over the whole system In the plannng doman plans ntated by local governments must be approved by upper-level governments The vertcal crculaton of communcaton between governments at varous levels on the one hand ensures an ntegratve output and strong ncentve for plan mplementaton at the local level but on the other hand ncreases the transacton costs of polcy-makng and potental fallaces n mplementaton Before revewng the natonal recovery and reconstructon plannng practces after the Wenchuan Earthquake t s mportant to understand the natonal dsaster management framework n Chna n general whch can be summarzed nto four key components Frst a producton safety montorng system whose capacty has mproved steadly from the establshment of the People's Republc of Chna n 1949 s the orgn and foundaton for an all-hazard management system Snce the lberaton from the former semfeudal and semcolonal admnstraton the new Chna has experenced a ggantc socal revoluton Based on the exstng ndustral system producton safety ssues have been the prorty n emergency management whch was a vod n government management feld at that tme and recognzed by the Chnese government recently Second a post-dsaster ad and relef system s hghly relant on the central government and requres a substantve government nvestment Wthn a centralzed system of admnstraton governments especally the central government take on the responsbltes of dsaster recovery n terms of economc regeneraton and settlement reconstructon Before 1978 the year when the Reform and Open-up Polcy was launched Chna had an admnstratve system n whch the central government controlled most aspects of provncal and local governments through strct and rgd mandates Bg dsasters exemplfed by the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake were drectly aded by natonal budget and relef funds Although the socalst market economy has become the man feature of Chna today post-dsaster ad and relef reman the tasks of the central government a paradgm from the prevous planned economy However the good news s that more Chnese and nternatonal NGOs and local governments have started to partcpate n dsaster recovery n many ways such as n publc educaton tranng scentfc research donaton and nternatonal techncal support Thrd the emergency management system that was formally founded n 2005 requres a large amount of capacty buldng efforts Nomnally the Natonal Commttee for Dsaster Reducton s housed n the Mnstry of Cvl Affars but ts functons only cover polcy research dsaster montorng and coordnaton by a small number of employees In the Unted States although the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has become the leader of the natonal hazard mtgaton and dsaster recovery system t remans a nascent agency under the Department of Homeland Securty and s stll n need of capacty buldng and role defnton Smlarly the Natonal Commttee for Dsaster Reducton n Chna s stll a newer governmental authorty and has not establshed regonal branches In addton emergency management authortes at the local level are manly set up n departments such as Publc Safety Housng and Urban-Rural Constructon and Natonal Land Resources and Management Thus an effectve natonal emergency system s far from fully developed and nsttutonalzed Fnally a dsaster nsurance system s stll at a tral stage Globally the use of dsaster nsurance s very complcated n dfferent natons and the success n practce s also very mxed For example n the Unted States dsaster nsurance for ndvduals has already become an ndspensable nstrument to protect property owners aganst fnancal losses after natural dsasters (Mlet ) But n many hazardprone developng countres dsaster nsurance s stll a new feld to be explored In Chna dsaster vctms can receve compensaton from lfe nsurance and property nsurance companes but only a few dsaster nsurance plans have been desgned by the nsurance and rensurance ndustry n Chna Some busness nsurance companes have started to promote a 10 percent addtonal earthquake nsurance attachment to exstng packages but very few nsured purchase these snce t s not mandatory 4 Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Natonal Plans Evaluaton Chna s n a transtonal perod n whch a vbrant socalst market economy s takng the place of the prevous planned economy However n most admnstratve practces the features of a planned natonal system reman very clear Ths s especally true for the dsaster recovery and reconstructon efforts after the Wenchuan Earthquake As a quck emergency response the State Councl organzed a natonal plannng system for the recovery process (Fgure 1) Due to the severe damage to most quake zones n the earthquake as well as the enormous demand of housng recovery the plan system focused on cty/town reconstructon and was led by urban and regonal plannng authortes from the central and provncal governments to local governments From the natonal plannng system one can reflect on the reform of the natonal dsaster management system and thus mprove the current system from the plan-makng and plan mplementaton perspectves In Fgure 1 plans 2 to 4 n the mddle box (the "9+ 1 Plans" box) were led by the Mnstry of Constructon of Chna whose major responsbltes are n housng and constructon In ths study we wll analyze the CtyTown System Plan and the overarchng plan the Overall Plan of Recovery and Reconstructon As a whole the "9+ 1 Plans" serve as the core of the structure that connects the 3 assessment reports and the 8 polcy studes Accordng to the wdely accepted classfcaton of measures for mtgatng natural hazards ncludng sesmc hazards that generally dvdes them nto structural and non-structural

4 20 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc Vol 1 No A SNr2SN111U]] [ [ I)sastcr Al"Ca AsscSSlllCn! Rcporl 2 1)sasler Losses Assessment Repor 3 Resource & l:;nvrolmenl Carryng C'apac(y Assessmenl [{eport ()yen'all Plan ll ReeBerv and Reconstructon 1 {'tv"town SvstC'lll Plan Rtlrt] Area {_t)llslrtlclon Plan LJrban and Rural Ho'lsn Plan "N 9-] ['[alts l rt 'raslrutmll[-t2 I']a]] Pub]t Servce I:acles PLan - In(lLtS11a[ Iec()nslrLtclon Plan Market Scrc Svstc]n P]a] I)saste-Pl-evenl }nmt<zal{n & Ec }svs[e]n 14ec'{}verv Plan [() 1 f LandLJsePlan I:sca l'c)lcv Tax al/d Fee I'o[cv I-nallcal I'clcv 8 P{[c'' Studes K - Iand P{lcv I]]dt=slra] Poll:y _ {_t)lllltcrr:tr[ Assslarlc"- Polcy Assstatlce 'o]cv ()tler ]'olces Fgure 1 The overall recovery and reconstructon plannng system Source: Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon 2008 mtgatons (Godschalk et al ) the post-wenchuan natonal plans adopted a comprehensve approach wth a non-structural emphass on land-use plannng adjustments n heavly damaged regons The three major polcy nstruments of sanctons ncentves and rsk communcaton (Lndell and Perry 2004; Lndell Prater and Perry 2006) n the natonal plans can be seen as strong regulatory mandates complemented by a few fscal and fnancal ncentves 41 The Overall Plan of Recovery and Reconstructon 411 Plannng Area The Wenchuan Earthquake struck over 417 countes (or cty dstrcts) n 10 provnces (or autonomous regons provncallevel muncpaltes) coverng a total area of km 2 n western Chna Faced wth the huge geographcal scope of the dsaster areas the overall plan focuses on the heavly damaged areas (Fgure 2) Ths ncludes 51 countes wth a total area of km 2 Altogether admnstratve vllages n 1271 townshps (wthn the countes) are under consderaton of whch the total populaton by the end of 2007 was 2123 mllon The whole plannng area s classfed nto two levels: (1) severely affected areas (pnk) ncludng 10 countes n Schuan Provnce (Wenchuan Bechuan Manzhu Shfang Qngchuan Mao An Dujangyan Pngwu and Pengzhou); and (2) affected areas (yellow) ncludng 41 countes n total 29 n Schuan Provnce 8 n Gansu Provnce and 4 n Shaanx Provnce (Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon 2008) 412 Plan Content Evaluaton Quarantell (1999 2) proposed that recovery often mples "attemptng to [brng] and/or brngng the post dsaster stuaton to some level of acceptablty Ths may or may not be the same as the pre-mpact level" Ths defnton ncludes a varety of ssues pertanng to recovery: physcal recovery economc recovery and socal/psychologcal recovery (Fgure 3) The post-earthquake plan (Table 1) as a recovery plan on a regonal level comprehensvely reflects the three nterconnected recovery processes Alternatve optons are recommended for housng reconstructon and cty/town relocaton The plan pays close attenton to temporary housng and permanent housng both n urban and n rural areas snce the plan was approved by the State Councl and began to be mplemented n September

5 Ge et al Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans 21 N 6ansu Gannan TL betan Provnce Prefectu / Longnar= 0ty Hanzjl'g 0 ty & Prefectures Autonomlus Aba Tbetan Qang - - _ ' / ( ;'? Guar=Kvuar O ty ( _ )!J '" C u7 Shaan n3 Provnce "l=_/ang C SJchuar ''revnce NanchongCty/ / I- -1 : Fgure 2 Plannng area of the Overall Plan of Recovery and Reconstructon Source: Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon four months after the formdable earthquake Assocated nfrastructure (Chapter VIII) and publc servces recovery (Chapter VII) are explctly addressed as well to back up the housng reconstructon In addton to household recovery the plan ntervenes by applyng ways to recover busnesses and proposes feasble projects and ndustres wth comparatve advantages (toursm and cultural ndustry) for the dsaster-strcken areas In Chapter XIII varous polces and economc ncentves are presented to assst n plan mplementaton Economc ncentves are comprsed of fscal polcy tax and fee polcy fnancal polcy counterpart assstance polcy and other assstance polces Among them counterpart assstance acts as a very unque program that brdges ctes n the coastal areas and ctes/towns n the affected areas One-on-one assstance embodes a planned economy from before 1978 and reduces the huge fnancal burden on the central government n terms of recovery relef From the socal and psychologcal recovery perspectves the plan focuses on humane care and natonal sprt n Chapter XII Cultural representaton of ethnc mnortes especally for the Qang Mnorty s gven specfc consderaton by reparng and restorng vernacular buldngs rescung and protectng ntangble cultural hertage and buldng earthquake memorals Through phased n communty reorganzaton and communty regeneraton shown n Fgure 3

6 22 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc Vol 1 No Physcal Recovery Emergency Shelter Temporary Shelter Temporary Housng Permanent Housng Economc Recovery Temporary Busness Permanent Busness Rescue Famly Reunon Communty Reorganzaton Communty Regeneraton Fgure 3 Processes of dsaster recovery Table 1 Contents of the Overall Plan of Recovery and Reconstructon Chapter I Bass for Reconstructon 1 An Overvew of the Dsaster Areas 2 Dsaster Losses 3 Challenges 4 Favorable Condtons Chapter II General Requrements 1 Gudelnes 2 Basc Prncples 3 Reconstructon Objectves Chapter III Spatal Dstrbuton 1 Dvson of Reconstructon Areas 2 Urban and Rural Dstrbuton 3 Industral Dstrbuton 4 Populaton Resettlement 5 Land-Use Arrangements Chapter IV Urban and Rural Housng 1 Rural Housng 2 Urban Housng Chapter V Urban Constructon 1 Muncpal Publc Utlty Facltes 2 Famous Ctes Towns and Vllages of Cultural and Hstorcal Interests Chapter VI Rural Constructon 1 Agrcultural Producton 2 Agrcultural Servce System 3 Infrastructure n Rural Areas Chapter VII Publc Servces 1 Educaton and Scentfc Research 2 Health and Medcal Care 3 Culture and Sports 4 Cultural and Natural Hertages 5 Employment and Socal Securty 6 Socal Management Chapter VIII Infrastructure 1 Traffc 2 Communcatons 3 Energy 4 Water Conservancy Chapter IX Industral Reconstructon 1 Industry 2 Toursm 3 Commerce and Trade 4 Fnance 5 Cultural Industry Chapter X Dsaster Preventon and Mtgaton 1 Dsaster Preventon and Control 2 Dsaster Mtgaton and Relef Chapter XI Eco-Envronment 1 Ecologcal Recovery 2 Envronmental Improvement 3 Land Consoldaton and Reclamaton Chapter XlI Sprtual Homeland 1 Humane Care 2 Natonal Sprt Chapter XIII Polces and Measures 1 Fscal Polcy 2 Tax and Fee Polcy 3 Fnancal Polcy 4 Land Polcy 5 Industral Polcy 6 Counterpart Assstance Polcy 7 Assstance Polcy 8 Other Polces Chapter XIV Reconstructon Funds 1 Fund Demands and Fnancng 2 Fnancng Innovatons 3 Funds Allocaton Chapter XV Plannng Implementaton 1 Organzaton and Leadershp 2 Plannng and Management 3 Categorzed Implementaton 4 Materal Support 5 Supervson and Inspecton Source: Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon 2008

7 Ge et al Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans Wenchuan Earthquake affected areas plan to strengthen communty attachment and amplfy the cultural unqueness to help local resdents wth psychologcal rehabltaton Evaluaton crtera of plan qualty (Brody 2003; Kaser Godschalk and Chapn 1995; Tang et al 2008) are to be utlzed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the overall plan Frst the plan systematcally ntroduces the demographc and socoeconomc background and provdes a dsaster mpact assessment n terms of both casualty and property losses Second overarchng objectves have been set out n Chapter II n lght of economc goals envronmental goals and publc welfare goals The problems are reflected n the lack of stakeholder dentfcaton clear tmelnes and measurable ndcators for assessng the effectveness and effcency of plan mplementaton Ths can be attrbuted to the fact that t s the general or basc plan n the overall post-wenchuan recovery and reconstructon plannng system and t requres a seres of consecutve detaled plans to lay out specfc objectves n the recovery Thrd the polcy and mplementaton chapters ( X I I I - XV) are the most mpressve sectons of the plan coverng ssues n the "9+1 Plans" framework by provdng both mandatory regulatons and voluntary ncentves Last whle short n length polcy-makers have started to ntegrate dsaster mtgaton and montorng nto the plan by applyng pre-mpact tools and strateges n a recovery plan Fnally the plan can be vewed as a quck response and recovery plan to the natonal dsaster but emergency preparedness should be added to address ssues before dsasters have happened Another recommendaton s for future analyses of sococultural vulnerablty to complement the "3 Assessment Reports" from a socal behavoral perspectve 42 The Cty/Town System Plan The CtyTown System Plan s a very unque regulatory plan nhertng from the planned economy model From a regonal perspectve the plan addresses the spatal dstrbuton and temporal orderng of reconstructon for ctes/towns n the plannng area and gudes the plan-makng of urban master plans for enclosed ctes/towns (Table 2) Table Contents of the Cty/Town System Plan General Prncples Goals and Objectves Spatal Arrangement of Ctes/Towns Housng Publc Servce Facltes Inter-Cty Infrastructure Infrastructure n Ctes Hstorc and Cultural Ctes/Vllages Conservaton Natonal/State Parks Geologcal Hazard Preventon and All-Hazard Mtgaton System Budget Plan of Investment Plan Implementaton Source: Chna Academy of Urban Plannng and Desgn The ntal task for ths systematc plan s to dentfy the varatons of urban development drectons among the planned ctes/towns n terms of physcal redstrbuton and economc regeneraton The plan benefts from the scentfc evdence and assessment from the "3 Assessment Reports" (see Fgure 1) n the overall recovery and reconstructon plannng system especally the overall sutablty assessment for the lvng envronment (see Fgure 4) and proposes an mportant development prorty rankng of ctes/towns (Fgure 5) The economc development network n a regonal system and the cross-jursdcton land-use structure predct the future pattern of the cty/town system n the earthquake area and coordnate the local development from a central government's ntatve The plan term covers three years from As an acton plan professonal plannng standards of housng land use employment and nfrastructure have been flexbly adopted for dfferent ctes/towns The cty/town system plan clarfes development prortes and spatal relatonshps for ctes/towns n the recovery and reconstructon system As a follow-up plan to the Overall Plan of Recovery and Reconstructon the CtyTown System Plan shares the sold factual bass analyss n the earthquake-affected areas stpulates n more detal the objectves set n the Overall Plan and proposes a seres of strateges for dversfed relocaton and reconstructon 5 51 Results and Dscussons Consstent wth Local Demands? The two natonal plans on post-dsaster recovery and reconstructon were offcally ntated by the central government and created a stuaton n whch government offcals from varous levels of government and techncal experts from places other than the localtes became the man force dealng wth the recovery plan-makng The common practce s that they stay at the dsaster areas for a bref perod of tme usually less than a month draft plans wth techncal documents and plots for constructon report them to the local governments and leave wth the possblty of returnng for several governmental evaluaton meetngs to revse the plans Although they worked at the earthquake stes under extremely tough workng condtons and dangerous trembles for a couple of weeks due to the unfamlarty wth the local stuaton and the emergent needs of publshng the plan to drect recovery nevtably there are concerns about the consstency of the techncal plans wth the real needs of the local resdents To what degree these plans can be mplemented effectvely n a locale s to be examned through the plan montorng processes 52 Any Bottom-up Feedbacks and Publc Engagement? Wu and Lndell ( ) noted that durng the dsaster recovery process "mmense confuson and conflct" wll take

8 24 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc Vol 1 No < "-" =1 "' '- _ ' k LI -" ( / L - _ ' )-'L L I g l " Z "IL ' ; '-:;< I -_ q :r: y= " "! :: ;_y -" ;' ::" -" 1) (3henldu "L< < - -;-s - 1-"-' - - '-"1 : " / " " ' f _ \ ' ) "'-' "r p- '-' s l :x J _ / /- _ V('"'-{ "' I"""I" --- ; "III " I "-" ' : Z! % "! - I ' I " I -_""'"" "1 " '_ >r Legend OrlUl'l 1 Enul[a r y T cn h- p - c' I- S u a b Ie t r y IO't 5U= tab ot \- ( Io-unda I / 10t3 50 I 0 Lea rt 5Jtabl 100 klrl Fgure 4 Sutablty analyss of the lvng envronment Source: Chna Academy of Urban Plannng and Desgn 2008 place between dfferent stakeholders and local governments concernng many aspects of recovery and reconstructon Publc engagement of NGOs local communtes and busnesses should be a crtcal component n post-dsaster planmakng and updates Because of the hghly admnstratve functons of the reconstructon plans they could not explctly address grassroots' voces due to the lmted tme n plan-makng as well as rsk communcaton barrers n the herarchcal nsttutonal archtecture For nstance the strong place attachment of the local vctms cannot be suffcently addressed n recovery and reconstructon plans at the household level The worres and anxetes over future lvelhoods among the vctms to be dsplaced as decded by some plans may be extremely overwhelmng Chna has a long way to go n socopoltcal reform to be able to deal wth not only emergency management but also the admnstratve system as a whole to be able to take nto account household-level demands n makng publc polces 53 Post-DsasterReconstructon or Pre-Event Mtgaton? The two plans analyzed here as well as other plannng conducted for Wenchuan Earthquake recovery and reconstructon were prmarly post-dsaster plans for reconstructng the local communtes n sesmcally secure places and restorng the overall socety to the prevous state But the natonal plan-makng approaches also shed lght on natural hazard mtgaton through land-use plannng whch s pre-event and proactve All plans are based on scentfc nvestgatons on both local physcal condtons and ntended local communtes' demands The comprehensve goal of buldng a reslent socety wth the combnaton of local reconstructon and ntraprovncal mgraton exhbts the humantaran ntenton for the dsaster vctms n terms of respectng whether or not they are wllng to relocate mantanng cultural and relgous tradtons recoverng local busnesses ntatng natonal

9 Ge et al Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans 25 f' I "% k Aba 1 " ' - I { l I Ienchuan : \ % -' 0 J * ' L4g = Guangyuan /" "=" l' k S" ( s" BIe c h n j ) Manyang! " o q"&2 I / t;oo ) \ % J Legend 1 f / " h _ y2": 1 P v D [ a E c I u s [ e r = n g c ' e s t o c n s I Mode r a t e O Re I O 0 8 t I n g anf r e c o n s t Restor ' I y r I u s t e r ng c t e s t o s ng and ad j u s t root ng ng t = e" t OWnS g t Es t o e n s GOp e " r e d LJCed C t ; e t own S Fgure 5 Plan of cty/town rankng n severely damaged areas Source: ChnaAcademy of Urban Plannng and Desgn 2008 and regonal assstance systems and amng at regonal development 54 Competng for Resources and Funds? Wth an urgent and huge demand of fnancal support to rebuld the communtes local governments and communtes compete for the lmted resources ncludng funds and techncal personnel and also development prorty rankngs of cty/ town systems Some negatve mpacts can be expected from several regonal plans dfferentatng and defnng not only the trend of urban development n the next few years but also the prospectve vsons n the long run that have been affected by local nterests Furthermore ctes/towns wthn the plannng area wll beneft from the ad and relef system from the central government much more than some remote places such as vllages n Gansu and Shaanx provnces that are not ncluded n the plannng area In a large-scale dsaster recovery process to consder every dsaster-strcken area and evaluate each one objectvely and transparently s a task not only for scentsts and techncans but more sgnfcantly for polcy-makers to help acheve a goal of socal equalty and desgn a better mechansm for dsaster relef 55 Local Dsaster Management System? Fnally the heavy dependency on urban and regonal plannng professonals and departments cannot substtute for formng a sold local dsaster management system Both the academcs and professonals n dsaster management are surprsngly few n number and also nsuffcent n profcency of sklls and scope of research The Wenchuan Earthquake and other natonal dsasters n the past stmulate the development of a comprehensve dsaster management system n Chna n two ways On the one hand an admnstratve framework of dsaster management ought to be at the top

10 26 Int J Dsaster Rsk Sc Vol 1 No of the agenda of both the natonal and local governments n order to nsttutonalze an ndvdual dsaster management system nto the exstng multagency government fabrc On the other hand n addton to the physcal recovery and reconstructon the long-term socoeconomc recovery and psychologcal recovery processes are equally mportant whch requres a mult- and nterdscplnary research archtecture to ascertan that the recovery plans and polces are more scentfc and effectve 6 61 Polcy Recommendatons Post-Dsaster Mgraton In the next three to eght years because of the massve relocaton and reconstructon n earthquake areas and the relef demand for socoeconomc recovery Chna's central government wll bear an enormous burden n post-dsaster nvestment and fnancal ad to both communtes and ndvduals Lackng a sound dsaster nsurance system n Chna the fnancal ad wll last for a much longer perod Snce most of the earthquake-strcken jursdctons are economcally underdeveloped and have lmted hghways lnked to bg ctes the reconstructon of the affected ctes towns and vllages calls for consderable fnancal support Meanwhle the resdents of some severely damaged jursdctons wll have to rely on physcal mgraton to the neghborng jursdctons whch also causes a seres of socal ssues n addton to the fnancal burden Thus the recovery and reconstructon plans follow a prncple of local reconstructon as the frst choce to attenuate the potental problems nduced by emgraton from ntensvely damaged jursdctons Chert and Luo (2010) nvestgated 1243 households n the severely affected areas to explore ther wllngness of rebuldng They found that a couple of factors were statstcally sgnfcant n affectng households' decsons on relocatng to new places versus rebuldng locally Beng n the severely affected area beng rural hgh educatonal attanment and hgh adaptaton ablty to a new envronment are postvely related to hgher wllngness to relocate to new places However property losses other than houses place attachment to local communtes and pessmsm about the household economy n the future are negatvely assocated wth relocaton decsons These fndngs effectvely support the plans' general prncple of encouragng the nternal dsplaced persons (IDPs) to mgrate wthn Schuan Provnce The UN Gudng Prncples on Internal Dsplacement (UN-OCHA 1998) and the Gudng Prncples on Internal Dsplacement: Annotatons (Kfln 2008) provde a normatve framework for countres to deal wth nternal dsplacement ssues that the post-dsaster recovery and reconstructon plans can refer to Mgraton after the Wenchuan Earthquake s a dsaster-orented envronmental mgraton whch nvolves 15 mllon earthquake vctms relocatng to new towns and ctes wthn Schuan Provnce and Chongqng Muncpalty In response to the tremendous and urgent need of emergency housng most vctms were resettled n towns and ctes adjacent to ther own jursdctons Later on regonal mgratons are to move to the Schuan Basn regon where there are fewer sesmc hazards and major ctes are located The forced nternal dsplacement after natural dsasters ntates a number of natonal taskforces and nterprovncal assstance n dsaster-affected areas 62 Publc Educaton Tranng Drlls Because there are stll no preparedness plans or related components n the current recovery and reconstructon plannng system publc educaton tranng and drlls wll not be well ncorporated nto the dsaster management of local communtes Ths wll delay psychologcal recovery and mean a loss of opportunty for enhancng the dsaster-response capacty of households and busnesses Dsaster emergency response nvolves not only actons from related governments and NGOs but also self-rescue and mutual assstance among vctms Although the mltary promptly reacted to the devastatng earthquake t s also crucal for the vctms themselves to create an order and fnd a means for an mmedate rescue Effectve self-reacton to dsasters needs to be embedded n local communtes through long-tme educaton tranng and drlls Addressng these mportant ssues s an urgent call to urban planners and emergency managers n the recovery plannng process 7 Concluson The recovery and reconstructon plannng approach n the wake of the Wenchuan/Schuan Earthquake s effectve n terms of mmedate emergency response techncal support and relef assstance but short-term recovery plans lack consstency wth local demands and are nsuffcent n addressng the long-term sustanable development ssues n the postdsaster urbanzaton process The evaluaton of the plan contents and the assessment of the plannng system n the dsaster recovery practce are of great assstance to polcy-makers n the dsaster-strcken areas to fnd sustanable solutons n buldng dsaster-resstant and dsaster-reslent communtes It wll have sgnfcantly broader mpacts on rasng polcy-makers' awareness about the need of a sustanable nsttutonal reform to construct a natonal dsaster management system embedded n the centralzed admnstratve archtecture Further studes need to revew the tools and strateges n those plans n order to evaluate the polcy mplementaton practce n the local areas and solve the development problems emergng from the mplementaton stage Coordnaton between dfferent levels of governments can be another evaluaton crteron to study when revewng the post-dsaster plans snce t largely affects the effcency and effectveness

11 Ge et al Evaluatng Chna's Natonal Post-Dsaster Plans 27 of plan mplementaton n the recovery and reconstructon processes There s also a need for future research to assess the cogntve processes of planners n plan decson-makng as well as the publc engagement potental under the current top-down socopoltcal system Acknowledgments The research for ths artcle was supported by the Program of Introducng Talents of Dscplne to Unverstes (B08008) and the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology at Bejng Normal Unversty Chna References Amendola A J Lnnerooth-Bayer N Okada and R Sh 2008 Towards ntegrated Dsaster Rsk Management: Case Studes and Trends from Asa Natural Hazards 44 (2): Brtton N R 2006 Natonal Plannng and Response: Natonal Systems n Handbook of Dsaster Research edted by H Rodrguez E L Quarantell and R R Dynes New York: Sprnger Brody S D 2003 Are We Learnng to Make Better Plans? A Longtudnal Analyss of Plan Qualty Assocated wth Natural Hazards Journal of Plannng Educaton and Research 23 (2): Burby R J ed 1998 Cooperatng wth Nature: Confrontng Natural Hazards wth Land-Use Plannng for Sustanable Communtes Washngton DC: Joseph Henry Press Chen S and G Luo 2010 Dsaster-Affected Populaton Rebuldng Wll and nfluencng Factors n Wenchuan Earthquake Chna Populaton Resources and Envronment 20 (1): [In Chnese] Chna Academy of Urban Plannng and Desgn 2008 The Town System Plan for Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon Bejng Chna [In Chnese] Clark W C and N M Dckson 2003 Sustanablty Scence: The Emergng Research Program PNAS 100 (14): Godschalk D R T Beatley R Berke D Brower and E Kaser 1999 Natural Hazard Mtgaton: Recastng Dsaster Polcy and Plannng Washngton DC & Covelo CA: sland Press Kaser E J D R Godschalk and F S Chapn Jr 1995 Urban Land Use Plannng (4 th Edton) Chcago IL: Unversty of Illnos Press Leonard H B and A M Howtt 2010 Actng n Tme aganst Dsasters: A Comprehensve Rsk-Management Framework n Learnng from Catastrophes: Strateges for Reacton and Response edted by H Kunreuther and M Useem Upper Saddle Rver NJ: Pearson Educaton nc Levn S A and W C Clark eds 2010 Toward a Scence of Sustanablty" Report from Toward a Scence of Sustanablty Conference Arle Center Warrenton VA November December CD Workng Paper No 196 Center for nternatonal Development at Harvard Unversty Lndell M K and R W Perry 2004 Communcatng Envronmental Rsk n Multethnc Communtes Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publcatons Lndell M K C S Prater and R W Perry 2006 Fundamentals of Emergency Management Washngton DC" Federal Emergency Management Agency wwwtranngfemagov/emweb/edu/fem asp or arch ne'tamu'edu/hrrc/publcat ns/b ks/fundamentals of emergency_managmenthtml Mlet D S 1999 Dsasters by Desgn" A Reassessment of Natural Hazards n the Unted States Washngton DC: Joseph Henry Press Plannng Group of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon 2008 The Overall Plannng for Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstructon Bejng Chna [In Chnese] Quarantell E L 1999 The Dsaster Recovery Process" What We Know and Do Not Know from Research Prelmnary Paper # 286 Dsaster Research Center Unversty of Delaware Schafer W A J M Carroll S R Haynes and S Abrams 2008 Emergency Management Plannng as Collaboratve Communty Work Journal of Homeland Securty and Emergency Management 5 (1) Artcle 10 Tang Z M K Lndell C Prater and S D Brody 2008 Measurng Tsunam Hazard Plannng Capacty on the US Pacfc Coast Natural Hazards Revew 9 (2)" Turner B L R E Kasperson P A Matson J J McCarthy R W Corell L Chrstensen N Eckley J X Kasperson A Luers M L Martello C Polsky A Pulspher and A Schller 2003 A Framework for Vulnerablty Analyss n Sustanablty Scence PNAS 100 (14): UN-OCHA (Unted Natons Offce for the Coordnaton of Humantaran Affars) 1998 Gudng Prncples on Internal Dsplacement (UN Doc E/CN4/1998/53/Add2) cha ol/pub/dp_gp/dphtml Kfln W 2008 Gudng Prncples on nternal Dsplacement: Annotatons Studes n Transnatonal Legal Polcy No 38 The Amercan Socety of nternatonal Law Washngton DC pdfs/stlppdf Wu J Y and M K Lndell 2004 Housng Reconstructon after Two Major Earthquakes" The 1994 Northrdge Earthquake n the Unted States and the 1999 Ch-Ch Earthquake n Tawan Dsasters 28 (1): Yn R K 2003 Case Study Research" Desgn and Methods (Y Edton) Thousand Oaks CA: Sage