Xiaoli Lu

Bio: Xiaoli Lu is an academic researcher from Tsinghua University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Medicine & Emergency management. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 15 publications receiving 235 citations. Previous affiliations of Xiaoli Lu include Leiden University.

The effects of trust in government on earthquake survivors’ risk perception and preparedness in China

Abstract: The role of trust in natural hazards risk management has not been widely examined yet. In this paper, the correlation between trust in government and individuals’ risk perception, as well as the perceived preparedness for earthquakes is examined. Survey data from 501 households in a Tibetan area in China affected by the 2010 Yushu earthquake are analyzed. The dependent variables are perceived seismic risk probability and consequences, as well as reported household preparedness for future earthquakes. The main predictor variable is trust in government, while trust in family members, trust in most of people in the society, trust in friends/relatives/colleagues, disaster impact, social support, socioeconomic and demographic variables (income, estimated house value, owned land, number of kids, gender, age, ethnicity, education, job categories, marriage status, political affiliation, religion, rural/urban residence) are used as control variables. Ordinal logistic regression models are employed in the analysis. The results indicate that people with higher degrees of trust in government perceive lower consequences of potential earthquakes and tend to prepare less. In the preparedness model, both perceived probability and consequences are additional strong and significant predictors. Potential theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Managing the unexpected: sense-making in the chinese emergency management system

Abstract: China built a new National Emergency Management System (NEMS) after the 2003 SARS crisis to cope with the challenges of crisis and disaster management, particularly the challenge of joint sense-making. This article investigates how the NEMS addresses joint sense-making challenges in crisis management. It explores several recent crises in China to uncover factors that undermine or facilitate joint sense-making. Our study unearths a low degree of professionalization, plans that do not match crisis events, a lack of accountability, and the absence of unified leadership. These critical factors make it hard for the newly built NEMS to establish a common understanding of a crisis. This article concludes with lessons for China's NEMS that may also be useful for other large countries.

Exploring the administrative mechanism of China's Paired Assistance to Disaster Affected Areas programme.

Abstract: The Paired Assistance to Disaster Affected Areas (PADAA) programme is a mutual aid initiative with Chinese characteristics, which speeded up the process of restoring and reconstructing regions affected by the Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008. The PADAA is an efficient instrument for catastrophe recovery, yet it remains a mysterious mechanism to many members of disaster management communities. This paper aims to lift the veil on it by assessing its origins and evolution. It draws on the multi-level moderated competition model to explain how the PADAA functions within the Chinese administrative system. The country's top-down political system allows the central authority to mandate provincial and local governments from more economically developed regions to assist devastated areas with post-disaster reconstruction. The practices of local accountability complement vertical control by giving leaders from donor regions strong incentives to accomplish assigned reconstruction tasks, resulting in intense competition between them.

Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Reconstruction and Development in China

Abstract: On May 12, 2008, a deadly earthquake that measured at an 8.0 magnitude occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China. As one of the most damaging catastrophes in contemporary China, the earthquake resulted in 69,227 deaths, 374,643 injuries, 17,923 missing, and an estimated direct economic loss of 845.2 billion RMB (State Council of the PRC, Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Restoration and Reconstruction Counterpart Provinces Supporting Program, 2008b). After the earthquake, the Chinese government issued a series of policies to rebuild and re-develop the earthquake stricken areas. Major goals of the post-Wenchuan reconstruction policies (i.e., housing for every family, job stability for at least one family member, basic economic, social welfare, infrastructure, and ecological improvements in the affected areas) were accomplished within 3 years, resulting in positive social and economic outcomes. This chapter describes two major mechanisms, the counterpart assistance program and the sustainable development approach, and maintains that they both contributed to an efficient and comprehensive reconstruction of the earthquake-impacted areas. We provide an in-depth case study on the reconstruction of Shuimo town, a town that was destroyed in the earthquake. We explain how the counterpart assistance program and the sustainable development efforts have transformed Shuimo from a highly polluted town to a tourism destination. We further identify major lessons learned from the Shuimo case study.

Emergency management in China: towards a comprehensive model?

Abstract: The institutional structures and processes of emergency management have been infused with ideas of Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) and the so-called all-hazard approach in various countrie...

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Abstract: What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist attacks upon the United States.

Abstract: Twenty-five years ago, as an American GP living and practising in Wales, I would watch BBC sports programmes, such as darts and bowls and snooker, all unknown to me and, therefore, fascinating. I always found it odd — pairings such as Scotland (or Wales) versus The Rest of the World. It either seemed overly ambitious for Scotland or slim pickings for the rest of the world. After the recent US presidential election, it appears as if it will continue to be the US versus The Rest of the World. Three books might help you, who are of ‘the rest of the world’, begin to grapple with what is going on in the US. Written from the short, medium, and long view, each has a somewhat parochial twist. Each also, however, contains a great deal of useful history. The 9/11 Commission Report refutes the old saw that nothing good can be written by a committee. The report is a remarkable book and its recent nomination as a finalist for the National Book Award is a first for a government document, and well deserved. What is contained in this report is well known by most of us — the cast of characters has been in the news for over 3 years. And the sequence of events and many of the details that were gleaned from the ongoing hearings have been contained in news stories, long and short. However, to have published what is known until this point in a single narrative, which is at once accessible and clearly written, is a truly historical achievement. Reading the events of the day — regarding the planes that crashed in the city of New York, as the rescue squads from police and fire departments move into place and act — is both familiar and detailed in a way that helps us understand better than I would ever have imagined the why and how of all the death and destruction. So much about those days have been parsed into documentaries — long analyses of causation of issues, like why the towers fell — that one would think that everything that could be written had been. But the Commission's report really does add enormous amounts of history to the sound bites and 30-second visuals that have pervaded politics and the world assessment of the US since that time. The report deals extensively and thoughtfully with the history of Islam, both ancient and recent, and describes the history of terrorism as it evolved from highjackings of the 1970s to the use of bombs and targeted destruction of military targets in the late 1980s and 1990s. Events that occurred in the time that preceded the attacks of 9/11 are written in a way that shows the convergence of intelligence reports, a long history of threats from Bin Laden, and many alerts and warnings (‘the system was blinking red’ in the words of Tenet, CIA director). The information about the movements of the terrorists in their planning and the worldwide involvement of cells, support systems, and finances makes it clear that these events were truly the result of a network that reaches virtually everywhere. After the attacks, reading of the efforts of the fire, police, and other rescue squads in New York adds specifics that are terrible and remarkable. On 9/11, I ran up and down the stairs between patients to watch on television as it was all happening. All of us who watched that day wondered what those people who were clearly doomed were thinking, feeling, and seeing. Their actual words in this report are not fiction, they are the words, for most the last words, of people who died as we watched. Their words are the hardest part of this long, detailed report to deal with. Much of the final third of the report is devoted to what a fire captain friend of mine once called a PFE — a post-fire evaluation — which he mandated for his squad after every fire. In a PFE, the entire squad reconstructed, relived, and discussed the events to see what could be improved next time. The 9/11 Commission engaged in a world-scale PFE. Although all US politicians state that they intend to follow the recommendations of The 9/11 Commission Report, the backing and filling is already well underway. What politician, for example, is going to agree that major conurbations, and political and tactical targets should receive preference over their hometown fire departments and that homeland security money should ‘not be used as a pork barrel’? Rather than bringing a grieving country together in a way that will make such events unlikely to happen again, the reactions from the report have begun to cleave along party lines once again. The 9/11 Commission was almost unique in its thoroughness, transparency, and its ability to focus on the real issue of terror and lawlessness. However, the extent to which a violent stateless ideology has negatively affected the tolerance of differences, the sense of community, and the level of civic discourse in the US means that terrorism has affected our neighborhoods as much as it has affected our country. And fear rather than determination, despite the President's stump speech, has become the dominant emotion. Robert Byrd, from his 45-year perspective in the US Senate, understands that cheques and balances are essential to avoid tragedy, even if they, at times, impede progress. His book, Losing America, contains several ‘under-the-table’ looks at Congress and the manipulations and arrogance of the coterie of ideologues who surround George W. Bush. Byrd, from the Southern tradition of politeness and respect, which often cloaks bar-room politics, is steeped in the history of the institution of the Senate. He is personally offended by Bush's lack of interest or curiosity in the legislative process prior to 9/11, and his dishonesty and deception afterwards. Byrd's address to the Senate on the eve of the war on Iraq was widely quoted and is contained in this book. While people marching in the streets made headlines, it was an 85-year-old senator, not previously known as an outraged progressive, who took on both the Administration for its hypocrisy and many of his colleagues for their lack of courage and principle. He voted against the war and continues to point out the dishonesty of the people who guide it. The book reads with a sensibility from another age. Although his own history is certainly not without problems, Senator Byrd's belief in the true democratic process, rather than the gun-barrel approach of George W. Bush, should be given the respect that he, and it, deserve. Arthur Schlesinger Jr has been writing history since 1946 and has Pulitzer prizes to prove he does it well. His voice is considered, thoughtful, and scholarly — as one might expect from a historian and distinguished teacher. Toward the end of his book War and the American Presidency, however, Schlesinger's voice rises with outrage at those who surround and influence George W. Bush, the ‘small group of Messianic statesman whose self righteousness bids fair to wreck our age’. He writes of the imperial presidencies of the early years of the country, which repressed dissent during wartime, and how the US moved from wars based on pique to engaging international diplomacy and internationalism. Schlesinger reminds us that all presidents since Wilson, with George W. Bush being the glaring exception, believed in statesmanship, diplomacy, alliances to guard against capricious choices and, when necessary, taking on common enemies. Much of Schlesinger's book, however, also chronicles the record of the current Administration which, by being ‘judge, jury, and executioner resurrects the imperial presidency’. An imperial presidency in the age of frigates and single-shot rifles cannot be compared with one that possesses weapons of mass destruction and a wooly-headed sense of divine guidance. We used to think of Henry Kissinger as the prototype for Dr Strangelove, but I wish Kubrick were still alive to do the remake with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in mind. Needless to say, the recent election, instead of relegating George W. Bush and his hangers-on to the historical trashbin, has pushed them to the front of the international agenda. A secretive, defensive, unreflective president will now shape the world for our grandchildren. Each of these books elaborates on the ineffectiveness of Bush dealing with the real enemy while he digs deeper into a country where he is creating more enemies by the day. One has to ask why, instead of quietly writing their memoirs, two distinguished 87-year-old statesmen are raising the alarm and shaking us by the throat — like the aging Thomas Jefferson who, in his famous letter of 1820, said of the first compromise to try to divide the country between slave and free states: ‘this momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror’. Byrd and Schlesinger hear the firebell and are ringing it to wake us up. Another quote that might better capture Bush and his legacy would be from the Bible he uses as justification for his policies: ‘He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind’ (Proverbs 11, 29).

Fangcang shelter hospitals: a novel concept for responding to public health emergencies

Abstract: Fangcang shelter hospitals are a novel public health concept. They were implemented for the first time in China in February, 2020, to tackle the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. The Fangcang shelter hospitals in China were large-scale, temporary hospitals, rapidly built by converting existing public venues, such as stadiums and exhibition centres, into health-care facilities. They served to isolate patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 from their families and communities, while providing medical care, disease monitoring, food, shelter, and social activities. We document the development of Fangcang shelter hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak in China and explain their three key characteristics (rapid construction, massive scale, and low cost) and five essential functions (isolation, triage, basic medical care, frequent monitoring and rapid referral, and essential living and social engagement). Fangcang shelter hospitals could be powerful components of national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as future epidemics and public health emergencies.

Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship:

Abstract: Embrick and his colleagues (p. 250) also realize this problem exists: ‘‘Yet, our sociological understanding of people and virtual technologies often lag far behind. Part of the reason is because we are just beginning to develop the methodological and theoretical tools needed to engage as researchers in this still new terrain.’’ Despite these organizational issues, the editors did a great job in assembling a colorful mixture of innovative research and very interesting, well-written articles. Highlights are the semiotic analysis of Elizabeth Erkenbrack (pp. 38ff.) in ‘‘Discursive Engagements in World of Warcraft,’’ in which the author explores ‘‘interactive realities, the multiple orientations of players, and the inter-frame effects’’ of the game ‘‘World of Warcraft,’’ as well as the chapter of J. Talmadge Wright (pp. 81ff.) on the production of place and play in virtual spaces, in which he makes the novel argument that the new technology of representation ‘‘amplifies already existing social relationships.’’ In conclusion, Embrick, Wright, and Lukács’s book is a very innovative collection of essays on virtual culture and online games. They succeed in filling the sociological research gap by issuing broader questions on power, exclusion, and inequalities in a digital and mediatized society. The chapters and authors present the state of the art in this research field. The topics are carefully selected, the chapters are well written, and readers especially benefit from the concise introduction and conclusion.

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions

Abstract: Anyone who watches the television news has seen images of firefighters rescuing people from burning buildings and paramedics treating bombing victims. How do these individuals make the split-second decisions that save lives? Most studies of decision making, based on artificial tasks assigned in laboratory settings, view people as biased and unskilled. Gary Klein is one of the developers of the naturalistic decision-making approach, which views people as inherently skilled and experienced. Since 1985, Klein has conducted fieldwork to find out how people tackle challenges in difficult, nonroutine situations. Sources of Power is based on observations of humans acting under such real-life constraints as time pressure, high stakes, personal responsibility, and shifting conditions. In addition to providing information that can be used by professionals in management, psychology, engineering, and other fields, the book presents an overview of the research approach of naturalistic decision making and expands our knowledge of the strengths people bring to difficult tasks.