Community-based disaster management: a review of progress in China

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 DOI 0.007/s069-0-047-3 ORIGINAL PAPER Community-based disaster management: a review of progress in China Xi Zhang Lixin Yi Dong Zhao Received: 3 July 0 / Accepted: 0 October 0/ / Published online: 9 November 0 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 0 Abstract China is a disaster-prone country, and these disasters have diverse characteristics, a wide scope of distribution, high frequency, and large losses. China has advanced community-based disaster management (CBDM) capacity. Community is the bottom unit of the society, and CBDM is the foundation of the entire society s disaster management system. A series of domestic major emergency incidents and disasters and international disaster reduction activities have promoted the formation of the CBDM concept, the implementation of capacity building activities, and the improvement of policy and laws. Thus far, the CBDM system has been preliminarily formed in China, and relevant rules and regulations have been promulgated and implemented. Furthermore, disaster reduction activities, such as the construction of the national comprehensive disaster reduction community and national safe community, have been promoted nationwide. As a result, China s disaster-resistance capacity has largely improved. However, it is only in the initial phase of CBDM implementation, which remains plagued by several challenges and problems, such as the deficiency of community resident participation, management organizations, disaster risk assessment methods, NGO development, and safety culture cultivation. Keywords Community-based disaster management (CBDM) Disaster reduction Disaster preparedness Disaster response Capacity building Introduction China is one of the most disaster-affected countries in the world. The probability of extreme weather phenomena is increasing and will increase further under the background of global climate change. Over the past decade, a variety of natural and man-made disasters have afflicted China with large trauma and losses (Yi et al. 0), including the X. Zhang L. Yi (&) D. Zhao College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, China e-mail: yilixin@nankai.edu.cn 3

6 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 SARS incident in 003, southern snow storms and Wenchuan earthquake (M = 8.0) in 008, influenza A/HN in 009, and Yushu earthquake (M = 7.) and Zhouqu debris flow in 00. Although these disasters resulted in massive damages, they also promoted the development of China s disaster management system. China has long made efforts to increase its disaster management capacity; especially, since the 990s, governments have gradually valued CBDM due to the influence of international disaster reduction activities. A CBDM system has gradually formed in China by integrating the experience and lessons of domestic emergency incidents and disasters. The community is the bottom of the society and the disaster-affected body of various emergency incidents and disasters. Once a disaster occurs, the community must face it directly and manage it [China Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) 009]. The community plays an important role in reducing personnel casualty and disaster loss and enhancing national comprehensive disaster reduction capacity. Community-based disaster reduction should be the foundation of society disaster reduction. The main methods to improve the capacity of society disaster resistance are to accurately assess the levels of disaster risk at the community level, improve the capacity of community management, and enhance the capabilities of community in the disaster preparedness, reduction, response, and recovery (Shi et al. 007). CBDM is the most effective approach for deducing and controlling future disasters and will become an important part in China s disaster management system (Twigg 007). This paper will review the progress of the establishment of China s CBDM, the background of related policies and laws will be expatiated, the achievements in this field will be introduced, and the main faced challenges and strategies will be analyzed. Development of CBDM The development of China s CBDM system is pushed forward by the effects of both domestic major disaster events and international disaster reduction activities. To show how they drive the development of China s CBDM system, in this section, we will expatiate on several major domestic disaster events and international activities that have important effects on the formation of China s CBDM system.. Domestic major disaster events.. A series of earthquake disasters Since the 960s, several earthquakes have occurred in China s densely populated areas, resulting in serious personnel casualties and property losses (Ren 004). These earthquakes include the Xingtai earthquake (966, M = 6.8, with 8,064 casualties), Tonghai earthquake (970, M = 7.8, with more than 5,000 casualties), Tangshan earthquake (976, M = 7.8, with approximately 4,000 casualties), Wenchuan earthquake (008, M = 8, with approximately 87,50 casualties). (Shen and Ma 008; Xu et al. 008). Due to the experience and lessons learned from these earthquake disasters, the level of community-based management has vastly improved. Following the founding of the People s Republic of China (PRC) in the 950s, largescale economy construction was promoted under funding shortage. To reduce the cost of projects, the seismic fortification criterion of non-production buildings was lowered. 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 7 According to the related governmental policy at that time (Urban Construction Bureau of China State Construction Committee 977), for general civil structures, such as business building, dormitory, station, wharf, school, research laboratory, library, club, store, etc., there are no seismic fortification measures in areas where basic intensity are VIII degree or lower. If basic intensity is IX degree or higher, earthquake disasters damage can be mitigated by decreasing the building height or improving plane collocation of structures. Due to these rules, most civil constructions in residential communities were defenseless against earthquakes. According to the Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (CSDB) promulgated in 974, the seismic fortification criterion of general civil structures, especially residential buildings, was one degree lower than the local basic intensity. From the 960s to the 970s, several earthquakes led to serious personnel casualties. The seismic fortification criterion of civil structures was improved, with the development of norms on seismic design of buildings that the government published and revised many times. Based on the lessons and study of the Tangshan earthquake (976), CSDB was revised in 978. According to the revised code, the seismic fortification criterion of civil buildings, such as residential constructions and schools, should be determined based on the local basic intensity, CSDB, revised again in 989, explicitly stipulated that areas in which basic intensity was VI degree buildings should design based on local seismic fortification intensity. After the Wenchuan earthquake (008), based on the lessons of serious casualties in crowed community constructions such as schools and hospitals, these constructions seismic fortification criterion has been raised. A significant change was the improvement in the earthquake proof level of buildings with dense populations such as schools and hospitals (CSC 008). Focused on the lessons learned from responses to earthquakes, several measures have been taken to improve disaster management levels. According to statistics, approximately 84,000 individuals were saved from the ruin of Wenchuan earthquake. It is remarkable that 80 % of these people were rescued by families or neighbors [United Nations (UN) 008]. This proves the significance of capacity building on self-help and mutual help at the community level. Following the earthquake, the related government departments organized a series of activities to improve CBDM levels and reduce personnel casualties and property losses in future disasters (CSC 008). These activities include community disaster-resistance capacity assessment, community disaster risk assessment, disaster social vulnerability assessment, disaster prevention, and reduction drills at the community level... The flood disaster, 998 In 998, flood catastrophe hit China in national wide, resulting in more than 0 cities destroyed at different levels. As reported (Song and Li 999), the farmland area covered by flood was approximately,900 km, the affected area was approximately 37,800 km, and the casualties were 4,50. The flood proved that disaster rescue work remained plagued by several problems, such as the poor ability of emergency rescue, the shortage of emergency inventory, the lag of disaster reduction facility construction, and the confused disaster information and donation management. Since then, China s disaster management has begun a new phase in which system construction and capacity building are viewed as vital work. The key to improving national disaster management levels is to strengthen the national disaster reduction capacity. National disaster reduction capacity is composed of eight themes, namely natural disaster risk management capacity, disaster early warning capacity, 3

8 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 the comprehensive disaster prevention capacity, disaster information management capacity, emergency rescue capacity, community-based disaster reduction capacity at urban and rural levels, science and technology disaster reduction capacity, and social mobilization capacity (McBean and Rodgers 00). In January 006, the China State Council (CSC) promulgated the Emergency Plan for Natural Disaster Rescue (EPNDR), and the plan was revised in October 0 (CSC 006a; MCA 0). In 003, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) promulgated the Working Rules of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Response to Unexpected Natural Disasters, and it was revised in December 007 (MCA 004, 007). In light of the seriousness of disasters, the working rules classify the response of the central government to unexpected natural disasters into four grades and define the specific response measures at various levels (MCA 007). To strengthen public disaster prevention and reduction awareness, the EPNDR promotes community disaster reduction activities and disseminates disaster knowledge, the laws and regulations on emergency disaster response, and common knowledge on prevention, insurance, disaster and risk avoidance, and self-help and mutual help by various mediums (MCA 0). The Regulations on Natural Disaster Salvage and Assistance (RNDSA), promulgated in July 00 by the MCA, stipulates that local governments above the county level are responsible for establishing and training disaster salvage and assistance teams. Villagers committees, residents committees, and enterprises must offer special positions for full-time or part-time natural disaster messengers (MCA 00)...3 The public health emergency of severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS), 003 China suffered the public health emergency of SARS in 003, which was a catastrophe involving the entire country. During the period of the SARS incident, the management systems of all major cities in China were paralyzed. The emergency exposed the fragilities of China s disaster management system. After the SARS incident, the central government proposed several methods to enhance the emergency response capacity, such as accelerating the establishment of the public emergency response mechanism, paying greater attention to the formulation of a public emergency response plan, and strengthening the building of the emergency response system, mechanism, and legal system. Since then, the construction of China s disaster management system has accelerated. In disaster management, the major aspects of work are as follows: Initiate emergency response plan system construction. CSC issued the National Master Plan for Responding to Public Emergencies (NMPRPE) in January 006 (CSC 006b). Various local governments, sectors, and related industries have established the corresponding emergency response plans. According to disaster particularities, communities, as the basic components of society, should established emergency response plans at urban and rural community levels. The document urges the government to establish an emergency response system comprising the following three levels: (a) The National Master Plan for Responding to Public Emergency; (b) Five national thematic disaster response plans; (c) Emergency response plans for 5 central government departments, with detailed implementation plans and operation norms (UN 008). Initiate emergency management system construction. China has established an emergency management system. The principles of this system can be summarized as unified leadership of the government, management at different disaster types, separated responsibility of different departments, integration of departments and regions at different levels, and emphasis on regional government management (Yi et al. 0). In May 006, the 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 9 Office for Public Emergency (OPE) was established, playing a role in coordinating the process of emergency management. Strengthen emergency management mechanism construction. Eight major mechanisms should be refined, namely the disaster monitoring and early warning mechanism, emergency information reporting and dissemination mechanism, emergency decision and direction mechanism, emergency response mechanism, public communication and mobilization mechanism, post-disaster recovery and restoration mechanism, and social management mechanism (Zhang 008). Enhance the emergency management legal system construction. Chinese national legislature adopted the Emergency Response Law (EPL) in August 007 as the overall legal document governing all emergency responses. China has enacted more than 30 laws and regulations related to disaster management, and the emergency management legal system has been preliminarily established (Yang and MCA 007). During the progress of combating SARS, epidemic prevention jobs employed the method of community isolation, namely dividing cities or townships into several communities and viewing the communities as the basic units of work. The victory of the war on SARS supports the following two points: the method of community isolation is effective, and community management plays an important and effective role in public emergency response. The significance of CBDM system construction has been gradually realized by governments, related departments and industries, experts, and the masses.. International disaster reduction activities.. International decade for natural disaster reduction On December, 987, at its 4nd session, the General Assembly of the UN designated the 990s as the International Decade for Nature Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). The objective of IDNDR was to reduce, through concerted international action, the casualty, property losses, and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, windstorms, tsunamis, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, grasshopper and locust infestations, drought and desertification, and other calamities of natural origin, especially in developing countries (UN 989). The IDNDR Programme Forum (Geneva Forum), held in Geneva from July 5 to 9, 999, aimed to summarize the achievements of the IDNDR Programme and plan the disaster reduction work of the twenty-first century. A review of the results of the Geneva Forum demonstrates that greater attention was paid to communities. The Geneva Mandate on Disaster Reduction (Geneva Mandate) shows that national, regional and international efforts toward disaster prevention and mitigation are essential, but should be seen as supportive of community-based actions. Most disaster prevention and mitigation action requires community acceptance and initiative, which must be based on a credible assessment of risks and realistic estimates of costs and benefits. Communities are generally knowledgeable about their own environments and coping mechanisms, and often of ways to reduce vulnerabilities. Community leadership also enhances independence and selfreliance. Furthermore, the Geneva Mandate indicates disaster-resistance communities construction as one of the disaster reduction goals of the twenty-first century, by increasing partnership and expanded risk reduction networks at all levels (UN 999). China responded actively to the appeal of UN with a series of disaster management actions at different levels, with the following progresses: 3

0 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 (a) Promote comprehensive disaster management activities. First, a special government department in charge of disaster management was established. In 989, the Office of China National Committee of IDNDR (OCNC) was established (OCNC 998). And it was renamed as the National Committee for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) in 005. The department is the coordinating agency of the central government and includes a General Office and Board of Experts (MCA 006). It primarily manages natural disasters by studying and formulating the principles, polices, and plans for national disaster reduction, coordinating and conducting major disaster reduction activities, guiding local government to conduct disaster reduction work, promoting international exchanges, and cooperation in disaster management, etc. Second, the notion of disaster management was transformed from solely emphasizing rescue to incorporating the entire process of disaster development. The so-called whole process of disaster development includes four themes, namely pre-disaster reduction/prevention, pre-disaster preparedness, post-disaster response, and post-disaster recovery. Before 989, China disaster management had a strong focus on rescue. During the 990s, disaster reduction activities became targeted and proactive, as indicated by the concept of disaster reduction, the establishment of many disaster reduction organizations and the implementation of various disaster reduction activities. Furthermore, the emphasis has increasingly moved toward the whole process of disaster development. (b) Observably increase the public awareness of disaster prevention. During the period of the IDNDR, the OCNC encouraged subordinate departments, related industries, and public organizations to promote various types of propaganda activities. They utilized publications, medium, and International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction to publicize general knowledge of disaster prevention and reduction. In addition, education departments added related disaster reduction knowledge to primary and secondary education. Similarly, disaster reduction education was included at the junior college level, regular college level, and post college level. These activities also help cultivate many disaster management professionals. Furthermore, to improve the capacity and quality of disaster management cadres, many local governments and non-professional departments held disaster reduction trainings at different levels, based on their status. (c) Disaster management moves increasingly toward the direction of standardization, institutionalization, and legalization. In 998, the OCNC summarized the experience and lessons of disaster management from more than 40 years of work and published PRC Disaster Reduction Plan: 998 00, based on both domestic and foreign disaster management experience. The plan specifies the relationship between disaster reduction and the national economic and social development, and indicates that science and technology played an important role in disaster reduction work (OCNC 998). Furthermore, the significance of related legal construction is emphasized, and the concept of social disaster reduction is presented. The promulgation of the plan demonstrates that Chinese disaster management work became standard, systematic, and legal... The world conferences on natural disaster reduction The World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (World Conference) was held in the city of Yokohama, Japan, from May 3 to 37, 994. It aimed to review the obtained 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 achievements and planning actions for the remaining part of the decade. The Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safe World (Yokohama Strategy) was raised as guidelines for disaster prevention and reduction. The Yokohama Strategy indicates the serious impact of natural disaster and the vulnerability of communities, especially in developing countries, with greater attention to the community level. Furthermore, the Yokohama Strategy proposes a series of specific actions to be implemented at the community and national levels, the subregional and regional levels, and the international level (UN 994). The nd World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, from January 8 to, 005. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), adopted by the conference, seeks the outcome of The substantial reduction of disaster losses, in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries (UN 005). The following three strategic goals support the achievement of the HFA-expected outcome: (a) The more effective integration of disaster risk considerations into sustainable development policies, planning, and programming at all levels, with a special emphasis on disaster prevention, reduction, preparedness, and vulnerability reduction; (b) The development and strengthening of institutions, mechanisms, and capacities at all levels, in particular at the community level, that can systematically contribute to building resilience to hazards; (c) The systematic incorporation of risk reduction approaches into the design and implementation of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery programs in the reconstruction of affected communities. The two conferences have significantly affected the development of China s CBDM. These effects can be detailed as follows: (a) (b) Community disaster reduction has become an important component of the national disaster reduction. Two tasks aimed at improving CBDM are involved in the eight major tasks listed in State th Five-Year Plan on Comprehensive Disaster Reduction: 006 00. The tasks are strengthening capacity building on disaster reduction in urban and rural communities and strengthening capacity building on disaster reduction popular science knowledge dissemination and education (General Office of China State Council (GOCSC) 007). Furthermore, the demonstration program of capacity building on disaster reduction in community is listed as one of the eight major programs during the eleventh five-year. In addition, in State th Five-Year Plan on Comprehensive Disaster Reduction: 0 05, four tasks focus on community, namely strengthening culture building on disaster prevention and reduction, strengthening capability building on disaster prevention and reduction at region, urban and rural levels, strengthening capability building on disaster prevention and reduction social participation, and strengthening soft power building on comprehensive disaster prevention and reduction (GOCSC 0). Furthermore, the program of dissemination and education on disaster prevention and reduction and the building on national disaster reduction demonstration communities is listed as one of the seven major programs during the twelfth five-year. Community capacity building on disasters reduction has been viewed as an important method to improving the CBDM level. With the influence of the World Conferences and the experience and lessons of combating a series of disasters, Chinese government values the importance of community capacity building on disasters reduction. The CBDM capacity includes four themes reduction/prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. In the process of enhancing community capacity building on disasters reduction, several requirements are proposed. First, actions should be completed that provide disaster reduction mechanisms in urban and rural 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 (c) communities, namely refining related emergency response plans, organizing disaster mitigation activities and rescue drills at the community level, strengthening capability building on community-based disaster monitoring and early warning, and establishing the teams of community-based disaster messengers and volunteers (Kuban and MacKenzie-Carey 00). Then, community emergency shelters must be built in large- and medium-sized cities and high-risk regions that are affected by typhoon, storm surge, flood, earthquake, landslip, debris flow, sand storm, etc. (Wamsler 007). In addition, the following actions are necessary: formulating and completing the Earthquake Proof Safe Standard of houses in urban and rural communities, reinforcing the planning and guidance role of central and local governments, and launching the demonstration city/country appraisal activities based on the disaster reduction houses project. Emphasis has been place not only on utilizing science, technology, and engineering to reduce disaster threat but also on society disaster reduction. The Yokohama Strategy marked the start of a significant shift in the political and analytical context within which disaster reduction was considered. Whereas the IDNDR was largely influenced by scientific and technical approaches, the Yokohama Strategy attributed great importance to socioeconomic vulnerability in disaster risk analysis, emphasizing the crucial role of human actions in reducing the vulnerability of societies to natural hazards and disasters. Benefiting from these international disaster reduction activities, China has paid increasing attention to society disaster reduction. In addition, a harmonious situation has been formed, namely, the maximization of science, technology, and engineering methods disaster reduction and society disaster reduction. 3 Achievement of China s CBDM 3. Community disaster prevention and reduction programs In order to improve China s CBDM capacity, some relevant departments and organizations have promoted a series of programs, such as comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community construction, safe community construction, civilized community construction, green community construction, and harmonious community construction (National Disaster Reduction Center of China Ministry of Civil Affairs 009). Among these programs, comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community and safe community are aimed at improving community disaster prevention and reduction capacity, and enhancing the disasters management at community level. In September 007, the MCA issued the Standards on National Comprehensive Disaster Reduction Demonstration Communities (007). In 00, the document was revised by the NCDR. During the period of the th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (006 00), the MCA named,56 comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration communities. According to the th Five-Year Plan, this figure will increase to 5,000 (General Office of NCDR 00). The safe community was first posed at the st Conference of Accident and Injury Prevention held by the World Health Organization (WHO). A safe community is a community where residents can live, work, and play healthily and safely (Wu and Zhou 005). From 006, the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) has promoted safe 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 3 community development. By May 0, there were 303 national safe communities and 46 international safe communities have been built in Chinese mainland (COSHA 0). 3. Techniques of CBDM assessment Through a long-term research, relevant governmental departments in cooperation with academic scholars devoted to theory and methodology of CBDM under the special Chinese social conditions. Among the large number of research fruits, the working procedures and assessment standards of the national comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community and safe community construction become standardized, nationally applicable methodology, which provide practical tools for community disasters management. 3.. Assessment system of national comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community The system is designed to make a comprehensive assessment to disaster management for use by local governments and community managers in planning for risk mitigation, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. The assessment methodology consists of two basic work processes: basic requirements assessment and index scoring assessment. The basic requirements includes three aspects: (a) over 70 % residents are satisfied with the community s disaster management, (b) no heavy incidents have been induced by hazards in the past 3 years, and (c) comprehensive disaster emergency relief plans combined with the community s characteristics have been formulated, and drills have been often conducted. Index scoring procedure will started under basic requirements achieved condition. The hierarchy index system is composed of 0 first-class indicators, 36 second-class indicators, and 73 third-class indicators, and the full mark is 00. Conducted by a professional expert and participated several volunteers, the status of disaster management in a community could be assessed. According to the standards to evaluate the community (NCDR 00), if the total score is equal or higher than 60, the community can become a candidate of national comprehensive disaster reduction communities. The scoring table is given in Appendix. 3.. Assessment system of national safe community The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), under a cooperative agreement with China Occupational Safety and Health Association (COSHA), has developed the assessment procedure and standard of safe community. In referencing to the Principles of Safe Community (World Health Organization 00) and Occupational Safety and Health Management System Guideline (International Labour Organization 00), the SAWS promulgated the Basic Requirements of National Safe Community Construction (AQ/ T900-006) in 006. This document formulates the basic requirements of the national safe community which covered those twelve aspects (SAWS 006). In March 009, the CO- SHA promulgated the Standards of Safe Community Assessment and Management, this document provides the assessment procedure of a safe community and the details of each step, and the assessment procedure is divided into four steps, namely application and preliminary verification, site investigation, comprehensive assessment and post-certificate assessment. 3

4 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 Based on the basic requirements of safe community, the COSHA has formulated a site investigation and evaluation form, which is composed of first-class index and 50 second-class index (COSHA 00). The full mark of the form is 50. According to standard of safe community, if the total score is not less than 00 and no second-class index is marked 0, the community can be approved as the safe community. The title of national safe community granted by the Community Safety Promotion Center which is subordinate to the COSHA. The scoring table of safe community assessment is given in Appendix. 3.3 Law legislation and policy China has promulgated and implemented a series of laws and regulations concerning disaster management. As a result, the legal system for China s CBDM is gradually improving (MCA and UN Disaster Management Team 009). In May 006, the Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening and Improving Community Service Work requires governments to build disaster and accident emergency response mechanisms and constantly improve the communities capacities to respond to emergencies and incidents. In July 006, the Opinions of the State Council on Comprehensive Strengthening Emergency Response Management Work proposed that communities should formulate emergency response plans with good operability, specifically addressing the public emergencies and incidents that the public might encounter. Communities should often popularize and spread knowledge of emergency response so that such knowledge becomes known to each household. In 006, the SAWS promulgated the Basic Requirements of National Safe Community Construction, aimed at promoting safe community construction, preventing and reducing injury incidents, refining the status of community safety, and improving the safety awareness of residents and the community s safety control level. In August 007, China promulgated the State th Five-Year Plan on Comprehensive Disaster Reduction: 006 00, which lists to strengthen community disaster reduction capacity building in urban and rural areas and demonstration programs on community disaster reduction capacity building as one of eight major tasks and eight major programs, respectively. In September 007, the General Office of the MCA printed and circulated the Standards on National Comprehensive Disaster Reduction Demonstration Communities (007). In 00, the document was revised by the NCDR. The new standards standardize and elaborate on the work of the whole disaster management process, including mitigation/ prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. At present, the Standard on National Comprehensive Disaster Reduction Demonstration Communities (00) is the most comprehensive normative document on China s CBDM. In March 009, the COSHA promulgated the Standards of Safe Community Assessment and Management. The document provides the assessment procedures of safe community and the details of each step. In October 009, the General Office of the State Council promulgated the Opinions on Strengthening Building Grassroots Emergency Response Taskforces. This document stipulated the basic principles and goals of building grassroots emergency response taskforces, strengthening building grassroots emergency rescue teams of a comprehensive nature, improving the grassroots specialized emergency response team system, and 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 5 perfecting the management system and mechanism and the support system of grassroots emergency response teams. In May 0, China promulgated the State th Five-Year Plan on Comprehensive Disaster Reduction: 0 05. The plan lists improving the comprehensive capacity of disaster prevention and reduction at community level and national comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration communities building as one of ten major tasks and seven major programs, respectively. 3.4 Improved knowledge and ideas Historically, CBDM in China was strongly focused on relief, by a long-time research and practice, CBDM covered the overall disaster develop process including risk mitigation, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. Some advancing ideas and conceptions, such as vulnerability assessment, community disaster resilience, the comprehensive disaster reduction theory, and social reduction theory (Yi et al. 0; Shi et al. 007), have been recognized and accepted by governmental officers, academic scholars, and particularly community residents. The important roles and functions of community disaster reduction capacity building and CBDM in the national disaster reduction and management have been fully understood, and the public awareness of disaster prevention and reduction has been increased observably. Furthermore, China s disaster management moves increasingly toward the direction of standardization, institutionalization, and legalization. China has established a national department, the NCDR, to deal with disasters and hazards specially. And the universally applicable disaster management principle has been formulated, namely prevention first and equal weight to prevention and mitigation, government dominant and public participating, people first, and scientifically mitigating disasters, and making overall planning and stressing the key points. 4 Challenges and strategies 4. Enhancing the residents participation in CBDM activities To date, the masses have not adequately participated in the procedure of community disaster prevention and reduction activities in China. In terms of the program of comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community and national safe community construction, the majority of the examinations and assessments are conducted by the government and operated by outside experts. Many community residents do not know what disaster prevention and reduction activities are held in their community, let alone participation in such activities. Engineering disaster reduction activities, such as improving the seismic fortification criterion of buildings and developing various disaster prevention programs, can achieve the expected disaster reduction effect once the funds are available. However, different from them, the effect of community-based disaster reduction activities will emerge just when the community residents participate in the management process. The effect of these activities are apparent only when residents have a deep understanding of the hazards distribution characteristics and the disaster risk levels, and participate in hazard elimination and risk mitigation activities (Abarquez and Murshed 004). If residents know the community disaster response plans and their personal role and function in these plans and participate in the plan drills, they will carry out self-help and 3

6 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 mutual help better when disasters occur. As a result, personnel casualty and property loss will be reduced. In this way, the emergency response plans will be meaningful. Thus, measures should be taken to guide residents to participate in their community management actively. 4. Enhancing the construction on CBDM organizations and coordination mechanism China has five levels of government departments under the national government level, as follows: province level, prefecture level, county level, township level, and village level. Some megacities have four levels of organizations, including city level, district level, street level, and neighborhood committee level. In China, there are many natural villages ranging from two or three to dozens under an administrative village, but these natural villages have no administrative organizations. The situation in urban resident communities is similar. Emergency management emphasizes that self-help and mutual help should be implemented in natural villages or communities immediately once disasters occur. It is necessary to establish volunteer disaster management organizations in natural villages or communities to enhance the community disaster-resistance capacity (Gaillard 00). The real local level of government in China is the county and district. The counties are responsible for delivering most services, such as health, education, emergency management, and economic development. Natural villages or communities, however, do not possess public disaster relief resources. In addition, although communities must obtain outside aid when disasters occur, there is no institution to guarantee disaster relief resources. Because of the lack of sustained support from government, it is difficult to implement the CBDM concept. The provision of hazard risk information and proper mitigation measures education will result in public awareness and behavior improvement (Sims and Baumann 983). Recently, some public sectors have taken account of CBDM and embarked on pilot programs. However, the lack of legislation, funding, and implementing mechanisms will result in difficulties when developing follow-up actions and activities. 4.3 Refining community-based disaster risk assessment methods At all levels, China s governments have focused on CBDM, although it remains in the primary phase of implementation. No perfect program guidelines and computing techniques of risk identification and assessment suitable for CBDM have been established in China. At the same time, educational materials and technical assistance personnel are insufficient. Here, we present The Standards on National Comprehensive Disaster Reduction Demonstration Communities (00) as an example. This document put forward the assessment index system of a comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration community. However, although it proposes what to do, it does not propose how to do. At present, community disasters risk assessment methods are mostly according to natural disasters risk assessment methods on the regional scale (Birkmann 006; King and Macgregor 000). Referring to the named demonstration communities, some cover an area of dozens of square kilometers, which is equal to the area of a small city and cannot well reflect the community scale. In disaster management, the community should be defined by the scale that residents can support when disasters occur (Dwyer et al. 004; Medina-Vera 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 7 et al. 00; Barzyk et al. 00). Demonstration community construction has ignored the basic characteristics of community disaster management. Defining community scale and raising community program guidelines and techniques of disaster risk assessment scale are priorities for improving China s CBDM level. 4.4 Promotion of disaster prevention and reduction NGOs development A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any governments. In China, there are three types of NGOs according to the official definition, including public organization, civil non-enterprise unit, and foundation. At present, China s prominent NGOs are mainly concentrated in the areas of environment protection, woman protection, and poverty alleviation. Disaster prevention and reduction NGOs are less than one thousandth of the total registered NGOs. China s disaster prevention and reduction NGOs can play only a small role in disaster response. The foundation and perfection of disaster prevention and reduction NGOs can strengthen community capacity of disaster resistance, relief, and recovery, which positively affects disaster reduction community construction. Thus, we emphasize disaster prevention and reduction NGOs development. The following two measures should be adopted: (a) (b) Government should provide a favorable social environment for NGOs development by refining related laws and regulations on establishment, register, action, operation, benefit obtaining, improving NGO management system, etc. By service outsourcing and the purchase of services, we can cultivate and assist NGO development. On the one hand, the government can guide NGOs to pay greater attention and inputs to the construction of disaster reduction communities and encourage them to carry out disaster reduction activities and services in communities in a legal and orderly manner. On the other hand, the government and the community resident committee should enhance the management and supervision of NGO development. 4.5 Cultivation of community-based safety culture At present, China s community-based safety culture cultivation is not perfect. The imperfection can be shown in the following aspects: (a) (b) (c) Community resident committees do not actively carry out propaganda activities of community disaster prevention and reduction knowledge. These activities primarily rely on requirements of the higher government. Propaganda methods are monotonous, mainly including sending out handbills and booklets, posting slogans, etc. Education of community-based disaster prevention and reduction knowledge in primary and secondary schools is insufficient. The cultivation of the community-based safety culture aims to adjust the relationship among community residents, communities, and community environment to prevent disasters and accidents, create a living and working environment that is safe and healthy for community residents, and promote the harmonious development of communities (Kajder 005; Benford 008; Parker et al. 006). 3

8 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 5 Conclusions and comments This paper reviews the history of the development of China s CBDM system. Influenced by both previous disaster experience and a series of international disaster reduction activities, the government establishes a management concept of comprehensive disaster prevention and reduction. CBDM has become an important component of the national strategy of disaster reduction. A series of laws and regulations have been published, including the NMPRPE, the RNDSA, the EPL of PRC. A series of disaster prevention and reduction activities at the community level have been carried out. All of these measures have markedly improved China s CBDM capacity. However, China s CBDM system remains in the primary stage. Several outstanding problems restrict the development of CBDM. Five issues should be addressed to strengthen China s CBDM system, including guiding the masses to actively participate in disaster management, enhancing the construction of management organization and coordination mechanism of CBDM, refining the assessment methods of community-based disaster risk, promoting the development of disaster prevention and reduction NGOs, and cultivating the culture of community-based safety. Acknowledgments This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (40930637) and Asia Research Centre of Nankai University. Appendix See Table. Table Scoring table of national model community standard for integrated disaster reduction First-class index Second-class index Evaluation standard Full marks. Mechanism of organizational management (0 ). Leading agency of disaster reduction ( ). Execution agency of disaster reduction (3 ).3 Operating system of disaster reduction (3 ).4 funding for disaster reduction ( ) The leading agency of operation, evaluation, and improvement on disaster reduction is sound The community has special working groups for risk evaluation, propaganda and education, disaster pre-warning, disaster examination, relocation, insurance of supplies, medical relief and reporting disasters () Operating system of leadership () Operating system of execution () The community has relatively stable sources of funds for integrated disaster reduction and management measures for raising, using, and monitoring the funds () The community has obtained a project of disaster reduction in community supported by funds 3 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 9 Table continued First-class index Second-class index Evaluation standard Full marks. Risk evaluation of disasters (5 ) 3. Emergency relief plan for disaster (5 ). List of potential dangers of disasters (4 ). List of the disadvantaged groups (3 ).3 Housing list of the disadvantaged groups (4 ).4 Map of disaster risks in community (4 ) 3. Integrated map of evacuation in community (3 ) () The community has a list of potential dangers of various natural disasters such as geological, hydrological, and meteorological disaster and earthquakes, marine calamities, and biological disasters () The community has a list of hidden dangers of public health (3) The community has a list of potential traffic, public, and social safety loopholes (4) The community has a list of potential production accidents in the fields of power, water and gas supply, communications, and agriculture () The community should have the list of the disadvantaged groups, such as elderly people, children, pregnant women, patients, and the disabled () The community should have the list of migrants and migrant workers () The community should have the list of dangerous houses () The community should have the list of the hidden dangers of various infrastructure and public buildings like roads, squares, hospitals, and schools () The types of disasters, dangerous places or their spatial distribution and names have been marked by various signs () The strength or grade of disasters, the time when they may occur and their range have been marked () It has the name and location of the shelters, the number of people it can hold, as well as clear and rational evacuation routes on it () The shelters should have function divisions of emergency relief, relocation and medical care.5.5 3

30 Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 Table continued First-class index Second-class index Evaluation standard Full marks 3. Emergency relief plan for community disasters (4 ) 3.4 Drill activities for emergency relief (5 ) () The plan has integrated the actual conditions of the hidden dangers, the disadvantaged groups, the capacity of rescue teams, and relief resources of the community () It should define the division of labor in coordination and command, forecasting and prewarning, examination of the potential risks, relocation, insurance of supplies and medical care (3) It has a simple starting standard for emergency rescue that is suitable for the community and easy for the residents to understand (4) The emergency plan contains the contact information of all the staff, information of all the disadvantaged people, and responsibility division of partner assistance () The drill activities are closely related to the plan and have clear goals and ordered command () The drill activities have been carried out aiming at the disadvantaged groups and migrants (3) The participation degree of the residents is high, and most of institutions, social organizations, and volunteers take part in the activities 3.5 Evaluation on the drill effect (3 ) () There are scripts, photographs, recordings, or videos to record the drill activities () The drill effect involves interviews or investigations among residents on satisfaction degree (3) There are improvement proposals for the problems found during the drill 3

Nat Hazards (03) 65:5 39 3 Table continued First-class index Second-class index Evaluation standard Full marks 4. Propaganda and eduction activities on disaster reduction (0 ) 5. Infrastructure for disaster reduction and prevention (5 ) 4. Organize propaganda and education on disaster reduction ( ) 4. Carry out activities on disaster reduction and prevention ( ) 4.3 Print and distribute materials of disaster reduction and prevention ( ) 4.4 Participate in training on disaster reduction and prevention (3 ) 4.5 Exchange experience in disaster reduction with other communities ( ) 5. Establish shelters for evacuation (6 ) () Wage education and propaganda on disaster reduction and prevention via billboards and show windows () Wage education and propaganda on disaster reduction and prevention via loudspeakers, broadcasting, televisions, movies, and knowledge contests (at least once in a quarter) () Carry out activities on disaster reduction and prevention during National Day of Disaster Reduction () Use public places or facilities to carry out regular activities on disaster reduction and prevention (at least once in a quarter) () Print and distribute national and local materials on disaster reduction and prevention () Print and distribute national and local materials on disaster reduction and prevention () Organize the administrative staff of the community to participate the training on disaster reduction and prevention () Organize the employees of relevant units of the community to participate the training on disaster reduction and prevention (3) Organize the residents of the community to participate the training on disaster reduction and prevention () Organize the administrative staff, and residents to communicate with their counterparts in other communities on disaster reduction and prevention experience () The community has established shelters for emergency evacuation and defined their locations, the number of people they can hold and their administrative staff () The shelters have clear division of function and are equipped with foods and other infrastructure like water and power supply, communications, and washrooms 3 3 3