Thematic Areas: Natural Disaster Management

Natural Disaster Management

A natural hazard is a potentially damaging natural event or the probability that such an event will occur within a given time period and area. A natural disaster occurs only if a natural hazard seriously disrupts the functioning of a community, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses that exceed the community's capability to cope without external relief. People play a critical role in determining whether a hazardous event becomes a disaster.

Overview

China is one of the most natural hazard prone countries in the world. Its complex climatic and varied geological conditions result in virtually every type of known natural hazard. Among them, floods, droughts, earthquakes and typhoons cause the greatest economic losses. Areas particularly vulnerable and prone to flood related disasters include the Southern and Eastern coastal provinces. The central northern part of China running from Gansu to Henan has a high risk of drought while the provinces of Hubei, Hunan and Anhui are the hardest hit by both flood and drought. In 1997, 30 million ha. of land were affected by natural disasters and 6 million ha. of farmland suffered from absolute crop failure, resulting in losses equivalent to 3-4% of GNP.

Natural disasters are aggravated by several factors. Improper land management, lack of environmental awareness and disaster preparedness, and ineffective application of the rule of law are key issues for policy-makers addressing disaster reduction.

Assessment

China’s political leaders have long realised the devastating effects of natural disasters and over the past fifty years, the Government has made considerable efforts towards the sustainable developmentof disaster reduction and preventative works. A series of engineering projects including 247 000 kilometres of flood prevention/control dikes, 84 000 reservoirs of medium and large sizes, 12 000 kilometres of tide barrage and half-a-million irrigation and drainage stations have been built. A nation-wide system for disaster monitoring and forecasting is in place. Environmental laws and regulations such as the Water Law, Water and Soil Conservation Law, Forest Law as well as laws related to flood control, earthquake and disaster mitigation have been promulgated, and an inter-ministerial agency, the China National Committee for the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction was established, responsible for disaster prevention, monitoring and relief.

China has actively embraced the “International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction” (IDNDR) declared by the United Nations for the 1990s, which set targets for 2000 including: completion of national risk assessments; implementation of national and local prevention and preparedness plans; and implementation of global, regional, national and local early warning systems. In September 1998, the Government formulated a new policy framework aimed at promoting ecological watershed management in recognition that the particularly bad flooding in 1998 was worsened by environmental degradation. As a result, a massive plan to redirect land-use management in river basins, especially in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins, was initiated

On average, about 200 million people are effected by disasters every year and several thousand people are killed. Moreover, every year, approximately 3 million people are in need of resettlement after a natural disaster and more than 40 million hectares of crops are lost or affected. A single earthquake event may result in major loss of life. For instance, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Tangshan in1976 killed more than 240,000 people.

China has achieved significant results in terms of reducing human casualties in spite of a dramatic increase in the number of people at risk. This is illustrated by comparing the number of casualties suffered in 1998 with those suffered in 1931 and 1954 when the Yangtze flooded to similar levels. Although these earlier floods took place in the context of lower population density and lower environmental degradation, the flood casualties suffered were dramatically higher:

1931: floods affected 28 million people, with a death toll of 145,000;
1954: floods affected 19 million people, with a death toll of 31,000;
1998: floods affected 180 million people, with a death toll of 4,000.

Analysis

Natural disasters, land use and environmental degradation
The relationship between environmental degradation/improper land use on the one hand and the extent and impact of a natural disaster can be demonstrated by the 1998 floods. Although rainfall was not at record levels, floodwaters exceeded historical highs. Several underlying land use and ecological problems and long-standing improper patterns of development contributed to the flood disasters.

The population had increased in the four most flood affected provinces from 99 million in 1931 to 226 million in 1998. Forestation in the Yangtze River basin was significantly reduced from 22% in 1957 to 10% in the 1990s. Encroachment of agriculture and other development into the flood plain and potential flood diversion areas exacerbated the problems (the area of freshwater lakes in middle and lower Yangtze valley decreased by 35 percent between 1959 and 1980). Ecological factors also contributed, with significant soil erosion and reduced soil quality in the region. There was heavy siltation in the Yangtze riverbed, which has risen at a rate of one meter every ten years in certain areas. All this was compounded by inadequate preparedness in some regions.

The Government responded to the floods with a new policy framework to promote EcologicalWatershed Management. The focus of this new approach is particularly on reforestation and the restoration of wetlands and lakes to reduce soil erosion and siltation in the Yangtze riverbed. From1985, when the Forest Law was adopted, to 1998, the annual budget for reforestation was increased from $107 million to $800 million, and in 1998 alone, 46.6 million hectares of trees were planted. However, forest coverage only increased from 12% to 13.9% during the period, with gains from planting programmes in one area of the country often being offset by new logging in others. The government has only recently begun to fully recognise the national risks that have arisen from uncontrolled local exploitation of such resources.

Governance and regulations
For disaster mitigation, building codes and zoning laws are key issues. All of China has undergone a massive construction boom during the last decade, but there is a basic data gap concerning how well such construction has adhered to building codes. Beijing codes, for example, require new buildings to be able to withstand an earthquake of Richter scale 8, which is a very high standard, but not all codes are well adhered to.

Local administrations in poor areas are less capable in terms of disaster prevention, and even where capable, have fewer resources available to implement preventive activities. They lack the means to gather information or communicate it expeditiously which significantly inhibits their ability to mobilise support.

Management of finances in disaster situations
The 1990s have seen an increasing cost of disasters and an increasing expenditure on disaster response. This development goes more or less in parallel with economic development. Investment ineffective disaster prevention is more cost effective than in disaster response and it reduces human suffering. It is important to introduce prevention measures during post-disaster reconstruction, while political commitment, available funding and public awareness are still high.

International and UN role in disasters
China has strong traditions of self-reliance and a hierarchy of highly organised institutions. With the support of the People's Liberation Army where necessary, China has, by and large, been able to meet its own requirements of immediate disaster response until 1998, which was the first year that China agreed to the issuance of an international disaster relief appeal, relating to the massive geographic scope and the long duration of the flood disasters. There is a need to develop systems for monitoring, analysing, and more effectively reporting on disaster developments. Such a system would not only enhance the ability to mobilise international support, but would also serve to create a more systematic and rational mobilisation of public financial support domestically.

Priority Issues

Capacity Building
As stated above, effective disaster prevention is always preferable to disaster response, since it is more cost effective and reduces human suffering. All disasters are significantly influenced by the decisions people make about development. In this sense, disasters are neither "natural" nor inevitable.All disasters can be minimised or avoided, if communities adjust their lifestyles and plan future development with natural hazards in mind. To better achieve this, it is very important to further improve the scientific base for early warning systems and for developing new concepts for sustainable land use. Equally important is the long-term awareness among decision-makers on disaster management.