Disaster responses: Centralized and uncentralized government - Comparison of Sichuan and Katrina

We had thought to visit earthquake areas of China's Sichuan province to contribute and exchange on what our experiences and work after Katrina taught us. Upon reflection, sharing lessons learned in China with peers and friends in social networks seems a more useful and valid deliverable from our research and encounters here. This is not to say that we are not seeking and learning much each day in first and second hand ways; rather we can ‘shrink our footprint’ of impact by transmitting lessons from China in ways we can explain and define by reflection. So, what worked here and what could have worked better?

Our world has begun to grapple with enduring evidence of greater impact disasters may have on global societies, (as we are interlinked through economics, political thought, media, environment, and so on). Remarkable juxtapositions between Katrina and the Sichuan Earthquake are plainly manifold both in execution and outcome of government intervention and civic responsibility.

In scope of global impact, no disaster has had such immediate repercussions as Katrina. Within hours of impact, financial distress from Katrina was felt globally. Initial estimates predict that Katrina wiped close to a trillion dollars off global markets. Environmentally, Katrina cautioned of cataclysmic effects from global warming, rising seas, and strengthening weather patterns. More than 400 square kilometers of important alluvial wetlands disappeared from the US Gulf Coast almost in the blink of an eye. Politically, while 73 countries stood ready to offer comfort and aid to the USA, political isolationism (or, abjectly self-righteous national leadership?) prevented all but six of these countries from aiding injured and suffering Gulf Coast victims. Canadian ‘Mounties’ snuck in to Chalmette, LA. to rescue helpless citizens. Local and Federal blockades prevented aid from reaching flood waters; eleven days after levees broke the first federal convoys began to enter New Orleans to impose a strict martial law - 22,000 troops were sent to forcible remove 2,000 hold-outs who refused to leave homes and properties.

[Trouble the Water, a film about one family’s experience, before during and after the hurricane, shows the experience of what many poor families have gone through. A recent New York Times article discusses how people are coping today, (and, which programs have worked to assist the most injured and destitute.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/us/29trailer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

China’s use of martial law following the earthquake was expected and unilaterally condemned from abroad. China has no restrictions on the use of federal forces within its borders. Aid organizations and western governments moved quickly to condemn China for not doing enough to get aid to far flung regions. We are learning first hand how the centralized form of government in China, its army structures and ability to martial armed forces to aid citizens affected by disaster, as well as the strength of patriotism. While it is correct to debate the benefits of restricting our armed forces abilities within the USA - it may be time for the US to revisit which arms of government local, state, or national, have the capacity to assist in cases of large scale disaster. China is by no means alone in using its military to assist during disasters. Many countries, if not most, use their armed forces in dual roles of defense and national service. Colombia, where we live when we are not in NOLA or on our honeyserviceyear does not have local police forces, instead it uses the Army as local police in all its forms. So, we are used to federal army being used as police.

Do not read the above as an endorsement of China’s vast public power structure, nor a top down disaster implementation response. But, measured on the success of its heroic recovery, China’s disaster response apparatus is noteworthy. The speed of its planning, design, and implementation of a recovery plan; and, how within one-year there is a near full physical restoration of communities affected by the earthquake, proves China is leading the world in terms of total disaster response output (especially in relation to the absolute scale of their disaster). We are waiting for stories that paint this story differently.

China has a venerable history of disaster. Earthquakes in China have been thoroughly documented for almost 500 years. The three greatest disasters in Chinese history are all earthquakes.

China’s remarkable earthquake rebuilding strategy has ingredients for types of rapid recovery progress which had been thought only attainable in wealthy western societies. While we are debating everyday here the difficulties and benefits of a highly structured and centralized governmental system, in China, for disaster recovery, the proof is in the pudding.

In Nanjing we had the great fortune of visiting the Nanjing Institute for Planning and Urban Design. Here we learned first had how Nanjing, like every province of China, participated in the recovery of the Sichuan Earthquake region.

In Nanjing, there is an ‘Earthquake Museum’ we thought would be dedicated to explaining earthquake history and scientific origins. This is where we went today. After trying to follow maps and asking directions, we went off-road and found the Nanjing Seismological Observatory office - which was interesting but not a museum. [Rule #1 for traveling in China - do not count on shortcuts or appropriately named places leading to what you are searching for. Chinese cities are made up with superblocks. While alleys winding into them are inviting because they are often the sources of authentic, ’cheap eats,’ there has yet, in our experiences., been an exit to the other side.]

China is thus far not as easy as Japan for finding ways to plug into community and contribute. We have set our expectations low because we do not want to be ‘voluntourists’ taking away from local community efforts by demanding huge amounts of time and energy it takes to give bearings and background to some completely uninformed and underequipt foreigners such as ourselves; [we saw after Katrina the great efforts locals constantly had to make to help volunteers join in on rebuilding efforts]. Worse yet, we do not want to be ’disaster tourists’ seeking out examples of other peoples’ suffering. The busloads of people who shuttled through our neighborhoods in New Orleans became a very untidy industry while people were still reeling with loss and coping with PTSD.

Additional links to information on Earthquakes in China are:

2008 Sichuan Earthquake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake

And 1976 Tangshan Earthquake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquake

Blog on China’s real Earthquake Memorial Museum - mostly negative with disturbing images.

http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/sichuan-earthquake-memorial-museum-to-cost-23-billion/

Of particular note to us was how the Qinglong county in the Tangshan area prepared the community when signs of the earthquake became evident - greatly reducing fatalities.

Flooding in China has produced the greatest recorded disasters in history including the 1931 Flood in which at least 4 million Chinese lost their lives through drowning and flood related diseases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_China_floods

As we are following the recovery of the Gulf Coast of the United States following Katrina, there is much to learn about the history of flooding in China. Could flooding such as the 1931 floods occur again here?

Due to restrictions on our blog posts, we will insert links, photos, and video when we leave China.

Thinking ahead to Africa and points east, please take a look at this map of ‘food insecure areas on Earth.

http://www.fews.net/Pages/default.aspx

Water is also an immediate concern for much of the globe, This article in Washington Post points to challenges which have caused mounting concerns in the Middle East and Yemen.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/15/yemens-capital-running-out-of-water/?feat=article_top10_shared

Water blog 'blue living ideas' -

http://bluelivingideas.com/topics/drinking-water/will-yemens-capital-run-out-of-water-growing-a-drug/