IMPLEMENTING
PARTICIPATORY DISASTER
RISK REDUCTION
FRAMEWORK IN
SICHUAN, CHINA
Challenges and Suggestions
Angel Lai, Xiaoxiao Hao & Elizabeth Norton
DISASTER OR NOT?
NATURAL HAZARDS

Classification (McEntire, 2007)
Natural
Hazards !
Atmospheric:
Air (thunderstorm; snowstorm)

Geological:
Earth’s soil
and rock
(landslide)
Hydrologic:
Water
(flood)
Seismic:
Movement of
tectonic plates
(Earthquake)
Wildfire &
Volcanic: wildfire
that results from
lightening strike,
volcanic eruption
The Interaction of Hazards




An earthquake breaks a dam and produces landslide
Degradation of the environment exacerbates flash flooding
Flooding leads to the spread of communicable disease
Example: Hurricane Katrina
WHAT IS DISASTER?


McEntire (2007): When a hazard or multiple hazards interact
with humans and their settlements and possessions, disasters
occur.
Definition
Disasters are non-routine events in societies or their larger subsystems
that involve conjunctions of physical conditions with social
definitions of human harm and social disruption. (Kreps, 2001:3718)
Disaster metrics must capture the magnitude
and scope of physical impact and social disruption
at the community, regional, or societal level
and the social significance attached to these
effects on human populations.
 Can disasters be prevented?
Interventions made in advance of disasters to
prevent or reduce the potential for physical
harm and social disruption.

SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE IN 2008

On May 12, 2008, an earthquake which registered at 7.9 on Richter
magnitude occurred at 14:28 in Sichuan province of China and killed at
least 69,000 people.
Picture sources:
US Geological Survey (USGS).
SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE IN 2008
 Statistics

Location: The epicenter was 50 miles west-northwest of Chengdu, the
capital of Sichuan, with a focal depth of 12 miles. Approximately 15
million people lived in the affected area.

69,197: confirmed dead (including 68,636 in Sichuan province)
374,176 injured
18,222 listed as missing.
4.8 million people homeless
 Video:
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of
Sichuan Province (HBO, directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew
O'Neil)

Background information & Synopsis
"tofu-dregs schoolhouses“: 7,000 collapsed

Takeaways
Disaster Response and Development and
Climate Change
WHY DOES
DISASTER
MANAGEMENT
MATTER FOR
DEVELOPMENT ?
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR):
HYOGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
•Address growing concerns on the connections
between Climate Change, Disasters and
Development.
•Identifies Climate Change and Environmental
degradation an increasing the occurrence of natural
and man-made hazards.
•Identifies the multiple ways which the MDG cannot be
attained without consideration of climate change and
disaster risk reduction.
•Suggests development must occur from the national
to the local level with risk reduction in mind.
(Hyogo Framework, 2008)
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR):
HYOGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
 10
year action plan to reduce socio-economic
vulnerabilities while considering the effects
of environment on the disaster.
 Risk
= hazards x vulnerable conditions
(social, economic, environment)
( Wolfensohn & Annan, 2005)
CHINA OVERALL: PRIORITIES IN
DEVELOPMENT....
Local Chinese Government
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rapid Economic Growth
Attraction of Domestic and Foreign Investment
Maintaining local order and control
Furthering the economic opportunities for local
elite/government
Building infra-structure in the most cost-effective way
possible
Perpetuate positive perception of local conditions for
outsiders
(Li Zhang, 2001)
CHINA OVERALL : PRIORITIES IN
DEVELOPMENT....
Peasants
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rapid Economic Growth
Increased Employment Opportunities
Increased Food Security
Increased Opportunities for Peasants Children
Increased Quality of Life
*Electricity*Roads*Public Toilets*Water Sanitation*
(Li Zhang, 2001)
HOW WOULD THESE PRIORITIES BE
CATEGORIZED OR RANKED?
Local Chinese Government
• Rapid Economic Growth
• Attraction of Domestic and
Foreign Investment
• Maintaining local order and
control
• Furthering the economic
opportunities for local
elite/government
• Building infra-structure in
the most cost-effective way
possible
• High upward accountability
Peasants
• Rapid Economic Growth
• Increased Employment
Opportunities
• Increased Food Security
• Increased Opportunities for
Peasants Children
• Increased Quality of Life
• *Electricity*Roads*
• *Public Toilets*Water
Sanitation*
Earthquake context:
What did the development goals miss that
will increase the communities
vulnerabilities to disaster?




Social level: Lack of measures that protect communities
against hazards (Risk assessment, earthquake safe
buildings, emergency response training)
Social level: Fail to encouraging community participation
and decentralizing power
Policy level: Transparency to combat corruption
Environmental level: Massive projects that destroy the
environment, lack of environmental awareness
Earthquake context:
What did the development goals address that
will decrease the communities
vulnerabilities to disaster?
Economic level: National and provincial GDP
 Social level: Livelihoods; food security; access to
energy; access to sanitation
 Policy level: Centralized government effectively
provides immediate emergency response for local
communities

LIMITS OF HYOGO AND PRA
•What type of movement is Hyogo?
•What impacts do these movements generally
have?
•Do local governments in China follow all
directives sent out from Beijing? What are the
implications of Chinese governance?
•Was corruption part of the problem?
•Is PRA an effective tool to combat corruption?
•Can PRA operate as a holistic development
solution in China ?
•Is the participatory theory of change enough to
change China's Local Government structure?
•What other theories should be used?
EXPERIENCES IN CHINA
Vulnerabilities at various levels…
 Governmental levels- Upward Accountability :
Government officials reports to the needs of central
government, non-responsive to local needs


Agencies and Organization levels- Corruption : A
lot of donations being consumed by local agencies and
organizations, unsafe buildings
Community levels- Minimum community
participation effort among the locals; ignorance about
disasters
SOLUTIONS : DECREASING SOCIAL
VULNERABILITIES VIA…
a)
b)
c)
Encouraging local participation:
Strengthening social capital at the individual
level
Combating Upward Accountability and
Corruption: generating moral incentive
among local government
Increasing awareness through Education
(A) STRENGTHENING SOCIAL CAPITAL
AT THE COMMUNITY (MATHBOR, 2007)


Aims: Utilization of social capital in preparing
and mitigating the consequences of natural
disasters.
Social Capital definition(Snowden 2005):
social networks, social contacts, social cohesion, social
interaction and solidarity (e.g. temples & churches).
 Trusting relationships, mutual understanding and shared
actions among individuals, communities and institutions.

STAGES IN CREATING SOCIAL CAPITAL AT
VARIOUS LEVELS:
Individual
level
Group level
• bonding
among
individuals
within
communities;
• bridging
different
groups within
communities;
Community
level
• linking
different
communities
through ties
with financial
and public
institutions.
WHAT IS SO GOOD ABOUT SOCIAL
CAPITAL IN DISASTER AFFECTED
ZONES ?
Individual level: Human relationships promote
mental well-being; people of same interests may come
together and form groups (e.g. Women interests
group).
Group level: Various Groups and interested citizens
form coalition to identify needs and joint collaboration
to meet the needs ( e.g. Women emergency response
team).
Community level: Mobilize and sharing of
communities resources, expertise and professionals in
preparing and migrating disaster (e.g. Meetings for
knowledge and experience sharing).
CASE STUDY: SICHUAN

Individual level , establishing social interaction via
economic activities.
SOLUTIONS : DECREASING SOCIAL
VULNERABILITIES VIA…
a)
b)
c)
Encouraging local participation:
Strengthening social capital at the individual
level
Combating Upward Accountability and
Corruption: generating moral incentive
among local government.
Increasing awareness through Education
(B) GENERATING MORAL INCENTIVE AMONG
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
 Study
hypothesis: Having embedding and
encompassing community groups will
enhance provision of public goods in rural
China.
 Encompassing:
Local community groups
monitor policy-related decisions; the group is
also seen as an authority similar to the local
government.
 Embedding:
local officials becomes a member
of community groups (e.g. village temple).
(Tsai, 2007)
STUDY RESULTS: VILLAGES WITH ENCOMPASSING
AND
EMBEDDING SOLIDARITY GROUPS TENDS TO INVEST MORE IN
PUBLIC GOODS!
No gov’t membership
Gov’t membership
No community
significance
• No incentive
• Informal women
group that
gather together
to sew
irregularly
• Some incentive
• An emergency
response training
program organized
by an ‘outside’ NGO
Community
significance
• No incentive
• Village church/
subvillage
lineages
• High incentive
• Village temples/
Village wide lineage


With high incentive to provide for the needs of
civilians, there tends to be less cases of corruption and
inclination towards mere upward accountability.
Yet… corruption will still occur at some level, the top
down bureaucracy will still exist.
How can we apply this study to combating upward
accountability in the affected areas in Sichuan?
SOLUTIONS : DECREASING SOCIAL
VULNERABILITIES VIA…
a)
b)
c)
Encouraging local participation:
Strengthening social capital at the individual
level
Combating Upward Accountability and
Corruption: generating moral incentive
among local government.
Increasing awareness and participation
through Education
(C) INCREASING AWARENESS AND
PARTICIPATION THROUGH EDUCATION
Case Study:
CERDM Projects in Ecuador (World Vision)
Benefits:
Tales of Disaster
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION:
HYOGO IN PRACTICE !

DRR case studies in Indonesia, Haiti, Malawi
WHEN DISASTER REDUCTION IS NONPARTICIPATORY…

Gap between services delivered and needs? Why?

Identifying limits and obstacles in countries of unique
political and social environment

Resource competition, lack of cooperation and corruption
among NGOs. Polman on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
(Klein, 2007; Polman 2009)
GROUPS!!
Scenario 1: Wednesday, November 17 at
10:38 am a large earthquake occurs along
the New Madrid Fault measuring a 7.1 on
the Richter Scale with the epicenter in St.
Louis
 Scenario 2: Wednesday, November 17 at
10:38 pm a large earth quake occurs along
New Madrid Fault measuring a 6.8 with the
epicenter in St. Louis

REFERENCES
Alpert, J., Kwong, P., O'Neil, M., Xia, M., (Producer), & Alpert, J., O'Neil, M. (Directors). (2009). China’s Unnatural
Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Television). United States: HBO.
Klein, N. (2007) The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. New York, NY: Henry Holt and company.
Polman, L. (2010) The crisis caravan: What's wrong with humanitarian aid? New York, NY: Metropolitan Books
Powerful quake ravages China, killing thousands. (May 13, 2008). The New York Times. Retrieved from:
www.nytime.com.
Mathbor, G. M. (2007). Enhancement of community preparedness for natural disasters: The role of social work in
building social capital for sustainable disaster relief and management. International Social Work, 50(3), 357-369.
McEntire, D. ( 2007) Disaster response and recovery. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
National Research Council of the National Academies. (2006) Facing hazards and disasters: Understanding human
dimensions. Washington D.C: The National Academies Press.
Sichuan earthquake. (May 6, 2009). The New York Times. Retrieved from: www.nytime.com.
Snowden , L.R. (2005). Racial, cultural and ethnic disparities in health and mental health: toward theory and research at
Community Levels. American Journal of Community Psychology, 35 (1/2) pp. 1-8.
Tsai. L (2007) Solidary groups, informal accountability, and local public goods provision in rural China. American
Political Science Review, 101(2), pp.355-372.