Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricken Rural Community in Southwest China: Correlation with Disaster Risk Reduction Efforts
27 Feb 2018-International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)-Vol. 15, Iss: 3, pp 407
TL;DR: Results indicate that residents who volunteered for DRR activities, received geological disaster education, participated in evacuation drills, and reported higher income levels had a perception of higher community resilience.
Abstract: Disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities have given growing attention to building community resilience, but the effects of such efforts on community resilience are still under-investigated, especially in China where the concept of community resilience has only just emerged. Using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit Assessment Survey, data on self-perceived community resilience were collected in 2017 from a post-disaster Chinese rural community in Yingxiu Town, which was the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake (Magnitude = 8.0) in the year 2008. Linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the correlations between residents’ DRR behaviors and perceived community resilience with the control of their socio-demographic characteristics including age, ethnicity, gender, education, income level, employment status and marital status. Results indicate that residents who volunteered for DRR activities, received geological disaster education, participated in evacuation drills, and reported higher income levels had a perception of higher community resilience. Practice research is suggested to help clarify the cause and effect of DRR work on the enhancement of community resilience to disasters in China and abroad. Attention is also called to the development of a Chinese indigenous community resilience concept and assessment instrument.
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TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the relationship between risk perception and sense of place on disaster preparedness in farming households in landslide-prone areas of the Three Gorges Reservoir area in southwestern China.
Abstract: The effects of risk perception and sense of place on disaster preparedness have been widely reported. However, most studies have only demonstrated weak relationships and it is unknown whether these are applicable to China. This study investigated such relationships in hazard-threatened areas of the Three Gorges Reservoir area in southwestern China. Data were collected from 348 farming households in landslide-prone areas. Binary logistic and Tobit regression models were constructed to determine whether risk perception and sense of place influence landslide preparedness. The results show that: (1) Farming households’ awareness of the need to prepare for disasters was relatively low, and disaster preparedness behaviors were mainly based on self-learning. Among the 348 sampled households, 67% exhibited no disaster preparedness behavior, and only 2% adopted four of the five types of disaster preparedness behaviors. About a quarter of farming households consciously learned disaster-related knowledge. (2) Risk perception and sense of place had important influences on disaster preparedness. Respondents who received higher scores on the perception of the probability of a landslide, the threat of a landslide, and the place dependence variables were more likely to adopt a greater number of disaster preparedness behaviors. Respondents with higher scores on the perception of controllability in the case of a landslide were less likely to adopt a greater number of disaster preparedness behaviors. Additionally, individual and household socioeconomic characteristics—education, loss, distance from hazard site, information acquisition channel, and housing material—were all related to household disaster preparedness behavior. This study contributes to the current literature by improving the understanding of the relationships of risk perception and sense of place to disaster preparedness in farming households threatened by geological disasters in southwestern China.
100 citations
Cites background from "Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..."
...…studies have focused more on floods (Lindell and Hwang 2008; Lawrence et al. 2014), earthquakes (Guo et al. 2014; McClure et al. 2015; Han et al. 2017; Cui et al. 2018), hurricanes (Peacock et al. 2005), and volcanos (Guo 2008; Jones et al. 2013), with little attention directed at landslides....
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...2014), earthquakes (Guo et al. 2014; McClure et al. 2015; Han et al. 2017; Cui et al. 2018), hurricanes (Peacock et al....
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...Cui et al. (2018) found that respondents who volunteered for disaster risk reduction activities received geological disaster education and participated in evacuation drills, leading to a perception of higher community resilience....
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Book Chapter•
02 Nov 2011
TL;DR: The Handbook of hazards and disasters as mentioned in this paper provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context, and offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools.
Abstract: The Handbook provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. It offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools. Organized into five inter-related sections, this Handbook contains sixty-five contributions from leading scholars. Section one situates hazards and disasters in their broad political, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Section two contains treatments of potentially damaging natural events/phenomena organized by major earth system. Section three critically reviews progress in responding to disasters including warning, relief and recovery. Section four addresses mitigation of potential loss and prevention of disasters under two sub-headings: governance, advocacy and self-help, and communication and participation. Section five ends with a concluding chapter by the editors. The engaging international contributions reflect upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practice applied hazard research and disaster risk reduction. This Handbook provides a wealth of interdisciplinary information and will appeal to students and practitioners interested in Geography, Environment Studies and Development Studies.
95 citations
TL;DR: Rural households’ livelihood capital and risk perceptions were the most important factors affecting their willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance, and rural households with higher scores on natural capital, physical capital, possibility, and worry were more likely to purchase Earthquake disaster insurance.
Abstract: Earthquake disaster insurance can effectively reduce the impact of earthquake disasters on rural households. Exploring rural households’ willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance in earthquake disaster areas provides an understanding of the motivations underlying the implementation of an insurance policy. However, few studies have examined the perspectives of rural households, in order to explore the correlations between the rural households’ livelihood capital, their disaster risk perception, and their willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance. A cross-sectional survey data including 241 rural households from the most severe disaster counties (cities) during the 5 • 12 Wenchuan earthquake was examined with regard to rural households’ livelihood and disaster risk perception, and ordinal logistic regression models were constructed to explore rural households’ willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance, as well as the driving mechanism behind this willingness. The results showed that 34.44% of rural households were very willing to purchase earthquake disaster insurance, and 7.05% of rural households were very reluctant to purchase earthquake insurance. Rural households’ livelihood capital and risk perceptions were the most important factors affecting their willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance. Rural households with higher scores on natural capital, physical capital, possibility, and worry were more likely to purchase earthquake disaster insurance. Specifically, keeping all other variables constant, every one unit increase in nature capital and physical capital corresponded to an increase in the odds of willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance by a factor of 0.14 and 0.06, respectively; every one unit increase in possibility and worry corresponded to an increase in the odds of willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance by a factor of 0.03 and 0.04, respectively. This study contributes to the current literature by increasing the understanding of the relationships between Chinese rural households’ livelihood capital and risk perceptions, and their willingness to purchase earthquake disaster insurance.
68 citations
TL;DR: This study analyzed data sampled from 241 rural households located in counties affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake to investigate rural households’ disaster risk perception and used path analysis to systematically analyze the mechanism of the factors stated above.
Abstract: There are many important factors to consider when creating robust, regional disaster prevention systems. These include rural households' knowledge and reported skills of earthquake disasters, disaster risk perception, awareness of disaster risk reduction, willingness to purchase insurance, and willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. However, few empirical studies have systematically established the theoretical research frameworks to analyze these factors. This study analyzed the data sampled from 241 rural households located in counties affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. A theoretical model was designed to investigate rural households' disaster risk perception and used path analysis to systematically analyze the mechanism of the factors stated above. The results showed that 53.11% of rural households had a stronger willingness to purchase disease insurance and 72.19% had a stronger willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. Risk perception, knowledge and reported skills, and awareness of disaster risk reduction were significantly correlated with a willingness to purchase disaster insurance. Risk perception and awareness of disaster risk reduction were significantly positively correlated with a willingness to relocate to avoid disasters. Knowledge and reported skills indirectly affected the willingness to purchase insurance and the willingness to relocate to avoid disasters through risk perception and awareness of disaster risk reduction. Risk perception could indirectly affect the willingness to purchase insurance and the willingness to relocate to avoid disasters through awareness of disaster risk reduction.
38 citations
Cites background from "Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..."
...Compared with urban residents, rural residents, especially those in poor areas, are more vulnerable to the impact of disasters, especially those caused by earthquakes [8,11,19]....
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TL;DR: Using survey data of 327 rural households from four areas stricken by the Wenchuan earthquake, the ordinary least square (OLS) method was used to quantitatively explore the correlations between rural households’ total family cash income, asset diversity, and whether rural households can borrow money from relatives and friends whenever there is a catastrophe such as an earthquake.
Abstract: Sichuan is a province in Southwest China that is famous worldwide for its earthquakes. However, few quantitative studies in China have probed the correlations between rural households’ financial preparation, disaster experience, and disaster-risk perception. Using survey data of 327 rural households from four areas stricken by the Wenchuan Earthquake and Lushan Earthquake in Sichuan, the ordinary least square (OLS) method was used to quantitatively explore the correlations between these three factors. The results show that rural households’ total family cash income, asset diversity, and whether rural households can borrow money from relatives and friends whenever there is a catastrophe such as an earthquake are significantly negatively correlated with the probability of disaster occurrence. Asset diversity and whether rural households can borrow money from banks whenever there is a catastrophe such as an earthquake are significantly positively related to the severity of disaster occurrence. The severity of residents’ disaster experience is not significantly correlated with the probability of disaster occurrence, but is significantly positively related to the severity of the disaster. The research results can provide useful enlightenment for the improvement of financial preparedness and disaster risk management for rural households in earthquake-stricken areas.
36 citations
Cites background from "Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..."
...[13] mainly explores the construction of resilience and disaster prevention system at the community scale, Han et al....
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References
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TL;DR: To build collective resilience, communities must reduce risk and resource inequities, engage local people in mitigation, create organizational linkages, boost and protect social supports, and plan for not having a plan, which requires flexibility, decision-making skills, and trusted sources of information that function in the face of unknowns.
Abstract: Communities have the potential to function effectively and adapt successfully in the aftermath of disasters. Drawing upon literatures in several disciplines, we present a theory of resilience that encompasses contemporary understandings of stress, adaptation, wellness, and resource dynamics. Community resilience is a process linking a network of adaptive capacities (resources with dynamic attributes) to adaptation after a disturbance or adversity. Community adaptation is manifest in population wellness, defined as high and non-disparate levels of mental and behavioral health, functioning, and quality of life. Community resilience emerges from four primary sets of adaptive capacities—Economic Development, Social Capital, Information and Communication, and Community Competence—that together provide a strategy for disaster readiness. To build collective resilience, communities must reduce risk and resource inequities, engage local people in mitigation, create organizational linkages, boost and protect social supports, and plan for not having a plan, which requires flexibility, decision-making skills, and trusted sources of information that function in the face of unknowns.
3,592 citations
"Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..." refers background in this paper
...However, community resilience is not simply a characteristic or property possessed by a community but also an ongoing dynamic process whereby resilience is enhanced by certain activities [25,26]....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a conceptual framework to define seismic resilience of communities and quantitative measures of resilience that can be useful for a coordinated research effort focusing on enhancing this resilience.
Abstract: This paper presents a conceptual framework to define seismic resilience of communities and quantitative measures of resilience that can be useful for a coordinated research effort focusing on enhancing this resilience. This framework relies on the complementary measures of resilience: ‘‘Reduced failure probabilities,’’ ‘‘Reduced consequences from failures,’’ and ‘‘Reduced time to recovery.’’ The framework also includes quantitative measures of the ‘‘ends’’ of robustness and rapidity, and the ‘‘means’’ of resourcefulness and redundancy, and integrates those measures into the four dimensions of community resilience—technical, organizational, social, and economic—all of which can be used to quantify measures of resilience for various types of physical and organizational systems. Systems diagrams then establish the tasks required to achieve these objectives. This framework can be useful in future research to determine the resiliency of different units of analysis and systems, and to develop resiliency targets and detailed analytical procedures to generate these values. [DOI: 10.1193/1.1623497]
3,399 citations
"Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..." refers methods in this paper
...Investigations using other alternative community resilience assessment tools, such as Chang’s framework focusing on physical aspect [60,61], or Cutter’s indicators [53,62], to cross-check the reliability and validity of varied tools in assessing community resilience will provide more knowledge about resilience from the theoretical perspective....
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TL;DR: In this article, the disaster resilience of place (DROP) model is proposed to improve comparative assessments of disaster resilience at the local or community level, and a candidate set of variables for implementing the model are also presented as a first step towards its implementation.
Abstract: There is considerable research interest on the meaning and measurement of resilience from a variety of research perspectives including those from the hazards/disasters and global change communities. The identification of standards and metrics for measuring disaster resilience is one of the challenges faced by local, state, and federal agencies, especially in the United States. This paper provides a new framework, the disaster resilience of place (DROP) model, designed to improve comparative assessments of disaster resilience at the local or community level. A candidate set of variables for implementing the model are also presented as a first step towards its implementation.
3,119 citations
"Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..." refers methods in this paper
...Investigations using other alternative community resilience assessment tools, such as Chang’s framework focusing on physical aspect [60,61], or Cutter’s indicators [53,62], to cross-check the reliability and validity of varied tools in assessing community resilience will provide more knowledge about resilience from the theoretical perspective....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a methodology and a set of indicators for measuring baseline characteristics of communities that foster resilience by establishing baseline conditions, it becomes possible to monitor changes in resilience over time in particular places and to compare one place to another.
Abstract: There is considerable federal interest in disaster resilience as a mechanism for mitigating the impacts to local communities, yet the identification of metrics and standards for measuring resilience remain a challenge This paper provides a methodology and a set of indicators for measuring baseline characteristics of communities that foster resilience By establishing baseline conditions, it becomes possible to monitor changes in resilience over time in particular places and to compare one place to another We apply our methodology to counties within the Southeastern United States as a proof of concept The results show that spatial variations in disaster resilience exist and are especially evident in the rural/urban divide, where metropolitan areas have higher levels of resilience than rural counties However, the individual drivers of the disaster resilience (or lack thereof)-social, economic, institutional, infrastructure, and community capacities-vary widely
1,294 citations
"Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Investigations using other alternative community resilience assessment tools, such as Chang’s framework focusing on physical aspect [60,61], or Cutter’s indicators [53,62], to cross-check the reliability and validity of varied tools in assessing community resilience will provide more knowledge about resilience from the theoretical perspective....
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...The economic well-being of a community has already been widely recognized as a core component of community resilience [17,53,54]....
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TL;DR: Resilience function captures the effect of the disaster, but also the results of response and recovery, the effects of restoration and preparedness, and becomes an important tool in the decision process for both the policy makers and the engineering professionals.
1,002 citations
"Resilience of an Earthquake-Stricke..." refers background in this paper
...In other words, a community is a disaster resilient one when it can take mitigating and preparatory actions to resist disaster and to achieve a required level of protection [14]....
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...The 2005 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction not only issued the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015 but also for the first time confirmed the necessity to bring the concept of “resilience” into disaster discourse [14]....
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