scholarly journals An Evaluation of the Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas Program in Disaster Recovery: The Case of the Wenchuan Earthquake

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangxin Yi ◽  
Yong Tu
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Wenchuan Earthquake ◽  
Disaster Recovery ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
The Wenchuan Earthquake ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Social Recovery ◽  
Post Disaster

The Wenchuan earthquake, which happened in May 2008 in China, was one of the most destructive natural disasters of the past decade. The Chinese government implemented several aid programs, including the Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas (PADAA) program, to assist with disaster recovery. Although the Wenchuan earthquake has gained much scholarly attention, previous studies often adopted different recovery measures and provided fragmented empirical evidence on how an aid program may have influenced the recovery process in both the short and long term. To bridge the gap, this paper collects eight social, economic, and institutional indicators to measure four types of recovery processes, namely, economic recovery, social recovery, institutional recovery, and built environment recovery. The data, collected between 2002 and 2015, covers 269 earthquake-stricken counties. Based on this data, we constructed a set of disaster recovery indexes. We then evaluated the impacts of the PADAA program on the disaster recovery process across the 269 counties in both the short and long term. We concluded that the impact of the PADAA program on the post-disaster economic recovery was significant in both the short and long term, whereas its impact on the recovery of the institutional and built environment occurred in the short term. Its impact on post-disaster social recovery was inconclusive.

Why and how to build back better in shrinking territories?

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grazia Di Giovanni ◽  
Lorenzo Chelleri
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Development Path ◽  
Recovery Pattern ◽  
Territorial Transformation ◽  
Post Disaster ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of build back better (BBB) in contexts affected by depopulation and shrinking economies discussing how and if its principles are able to drive the recovery pattern toward a sustainability re-development path.Design/methodology/approachBBB principles’ usefulness in driving toward a sustainable post-disaster recovery has been tested in L’Aquila’s area (Italy) – severely affected by an earthquake in 2009 – through interviews and analyses of reconstruction plans and policies.FindingsAlthough most of the BBB principles can be recognized within the intentions of plans and policies, the recovery process highlights a major fallacy in addressing the pre-disaster socio-economic stresses inducing to shrinkage and depopulation development lock-ins.Practical implicationsAlthough most of the principles can be recognized in the intentions of plans and policies, the recovery process highlights a main fallacy of the “BBB paradigm”: the need of addressing pre-disaster socio-economic stresses while recovering from the shocks was not explicitly nor implicitly addressed.Originality/valueShrinkage as a process of territorial transformation has been little explored in relation to natural hazards and post-disaster contexts. Indeed, while from one side BBB concept and principles drive toward a potential mitigation of the main risks while re-building, it results challenging to overcome the built environment re-building priorities to question whether, what and how to re-build while investing in socio-economic recovery. Reverting, or accepting, shrinkage could indeed implies to not build back part of the urban fabric, while investing in skills and capacity building, which, in turn, would be difficult to justify through the reconstruction budget. The tension between re-building (better, the built environment) and re-development (skills and networks, at the expense of re-building) is critical when BBB faces disasters happening in shrinking territories.

scholarly journals When Housing and Communities Were Delivered: A Case Study of Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Rural Reconstruction and Recovery

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7629
Author(s):  
Haorui Wu
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Wenchuan Earthquake ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
Residential Communities ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Disaster Survivors ◽  
Two Phases

This study contributes to an in-depth examination of how Wenchuan earthquake disaster survivors utilize intensive built environment reconstruction outcomes (housing and infrastructural systems) to facilitate their long-term social and economic recovery and sustainable rural development. Post-disaster recovery administered via top-down disaster management systems usually consists of two phases: a short-term, government-led reconstruction (STGLR) of the built environment and a long-term, survivor-led recovery (LTSLR) of human and social settings. However, current studies have been inadequate in examining how rural disaster survivors have adapted to their new government-provided housing or how communities conducted their long-term recovery efforts. This qualitative case study invited sixty rural disaster survivors to examine their place-making activities utilizing government-delivered, urban-style residential communities to support their long-term recovery. This study discovered that rural residents’ recovery activities successfully perpetuated their original rural lives and rebuilt social connections and networks both individually and collectively. However, they were only able to manage their agriculture-based livelihood recovery temporarily. This research suggests that engaging rural inhabitants’ place-making expertise and providing opportunities to improve their housing and communities would advance the long-term grassroots recovery of lives and livelihoods, achieving sustainable development.

scholarly journals Development of Planning Support System for Urban Rehabilitation and Reconstruction

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 422-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takaaki Kato ◽  
◽  
Itsuki Nakabayashi ◽  
Taro Ichiko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Support System ◽  
Disaster Recovery ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Disaster Planning ◽  
Planning Support ◽  
Planning Support System ◽  
Post Disaster

The past post-disaster recovery process had many difficulties in planning. The importance of residents participatory urban planning is true of post-disaster planning and ordinary planning; however, there are difficult problems as follows: time-scale conflict between desire of affected households for swift recovery of their individual lives and enough consideration of urban planning to avoid speed-before-quality planning, unsmooth discussion and consensus building because of mutual conflict of their interest in the residents, and a shortage of professionals in the case that an earthquake disaster hits wide and high-density urbanized region. The concept of "pre-disaster planning" has been propounded as measures to deal with these serious situations after 1995 Hyogo-ken Nambu Earthquake in Japan. Actual measures including "neighborhood community-training program for post-disaster recovery" of Tokyo Metropolitan have been implemented in various approaches. This study has pioneering approach in this context. We focus on planning support technologies based on a geographic information system (GIS) and establish planning support system for post-disaster community-based urban planning, which will smooth discussion and increase efficiency of planning work. An introduction of the system will result in reduction of total time needed on the planning process and supplement of professionals. Though there are some problems that we identified, they will be solved in accumulated experiences such as the training program in the near future.

scholarly journals Qualifying the Sustainability of Novel Designs and Existing Solutions for Post-Disaster and Post-Conflict Sheltering

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Alshawawreh ◽  
Francesco Pomponi ◽  
Bernardino D’Amico ◽  
Susan Snaddon ◽  
Peter Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Post Disaster

During the course of 2018, 70.8 million people globally were forcibly displaced due to natural disasters and conflicts—a staggering increase of 2.9 million people compared to the previous year’s figure. Displaced people cluster in refugee camps which have very often the scale of a medium-sized city. Post-disaster and post-conflict (PDPC) sheltering therefore represents a vitally important element for both the short- and long-term wellbeing of the displaced. However, the constrained environment which dominates PDPC sheltering often results in a lack of consideration of sustainability dimensions. Neglecting sustainability has severe practical consequences on both people and the environment, and in the long run it also incurs higher costs. It is therefore imperative to quickly transfer to PDPC sheltering where sustainability considerations are a key element of the design and decision-making processes. To facilitate such transition, this article reviews both ‘existing solutions’ and ‘novel designs’ for PDPC sheltering against the three pillars of sustainability. Both clusters are systematically categorized, and pros and cons of solutions and designs are identified. This provides an overview of the attempts made so far in different contexts, and it highlights what worked and what did not. This article represents a stepping-stone for future work in this area, to both facilitate and accelerate the transition to sustainable sheltering.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document