Socioeconomic development and the impact of natural disasters: some empirical evidences from China

Significant advancements have been made in examining the relationship between economic development and disaster losses at the global and national scales, but very little research has been done at the sub-national level, especially in China. Based on socioeconomic and disaster impact data from 31 provinces (municipalities, and autonomous regions) in China from 1990 to 2010, ordinary least squares regression was used to determine the relationship between socioeconomic development and effects of natural disasters. Results showed that economic development played a distinct role in mitigating disaster damages in the whole China and its eastern, central and western regions. There existed a U-shaped relationship between economic growth and disaster losses in the whole China and its eastern region, and an inverted-U nonlinearity linkage in its central and western areas. These findings further confirmed the existence of a nonlinear relationship between economic development and disaster losses. Economic growth had played a more important role in mitigating disaster losses in the central region of China than that in the western one. Further investigations demonstrated that as economic develops, there were fewer deaths caused by natural hazards in whole China and all its three regions. The combination of the lower level of education, higher unemployment rate and greater gross dependence ratio has contributed to the increase in death toll caused by natural disasters, but this trend could be partly offset by wealth growth.     

Integrated risk assessment of multi-hazards in China

Maps of population exposure, vulnerability and risk to natural hazards are useful tools for designing and implementing disaster risk mitigation programs in China. The ranking of provinces by relative risk to natural hazards would provide a metric for prioritizing risk management strategies. Using provinces as our study unit, from the perspectives of hazard exposure, susceptibility, coping capacity and adaptive capacity, this study first constructed China’s disaster risk index for five types of major natural hazards: earthquakes, floods, droughts, low temperatures/snow and gale/hail. Then, the relative risk level at the provincial scale in China was assessed. Finally, the hotspots with the highest hazard exposure, vulnerability and risk were identified. The results showed that high exposure was a significant risk driver in China, whereas high vulnerability, especially social vulnerability, amplified the risk levels. Similar to the population exposure to disasters, the relative risk levels in the southwestern, central and northeastern regions of China were significantly higher than those in the eastern, northern and western regions. The high-risk regions or hotspots of multi-hazards were concentrated in southern China (less-developed regions), while the low-risk regions were mainly distributed in the eastern coastal areas (well-developed regions). Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship existed between the disaster risk level and poverty incidence as well as per capita GDP, demonstrating that disaster losses in middle-income areas are likely to increase if economic policies are not modified to account for the rising disaster risk. These findings further indicated that research on disaster risk should focus not only on hazards and exposure but also on the vulnerability to natural disasters. Thus, reducing vulnerability and population exposure to natural hazards would be an effective measure in mitigating the disaster risk at hotspots in China.     

近年来我国泥石流灾害时空分布规律及成因分析

中国是世界上遭受泥石流灾害最为严重的国家之一,灾害发生数量大,造成的人员伤亡和财产损失较高,同时监测和防治难度极大。本文收集了2005-2015年间发生的全部泥石流灾害共计10 927起,对灾害发生时间、地点、灾害规模、灾害损失以及灾害成因进行了统计,发现泥石流灾害具有近年来发生数量明显下降、集中分布在西部和东南沿海省份、特大型和大型灾害损失最为惨重等时空分布特点及成灾特点。通过对具体案例剖析后发现,预警技术有待提高、山区城镇建设场地选址不当、多年来泥石流灾害防治标准偏低、震区灾害防治形势严峻、灾害防治意识淡薄为我国泥石流灾害危害严重的主要原因。同时,我国正在积极应对泥石流灾害的威胁,如：主动提高震区泥石流灾害防治标准,研发新型的拦挡技术;研发具备实时可视化等功能的监测预警系统,提高监测预警效率;提高群众防灾意识,大力发展群测群防监测预警体系;转变观念,将泥石流灾害防治与城镇化发展规划有机结合。     

中国地质灾害成因分析

中国地质环境的特殊性决定了地质灾害的多样性、易发性及其区域变异性。地质灾害的发生不仅取决于地质环境演变,还与区域降雨渗流、冻融作用、地震损伤和人类活动等多种因素叠加作用密切相关。基于大数据思维,作者统计研究了中国年均降雨量、地质灾害数量、多年降雨距平、死亡失踪人数、直接经济损失等参数的相关关系。提出了重合度概念及其计算方法,计算了1998~2018年各年度降雨正距平分布区与地质灾害易发区的重合度,得出地质灾害危害程度与重合度正相关。例如,1998年年均降雨量距平10. 5%,重合度达60%,危害损失大;2010年年均降雨量距平7. 8%,重合度高达65%,危害损失巨大;2011年年均降雨量距平为-9. 8%,重合度只有10%,危害损失小;2018年年均降雨量距平5. 9%,但重合度仅15%,危害损失小。研究证明,中国地质灾害防治成效是显著的,灾情大小与年度降雨作用和地质灾害易发区的重合度正相关,“人努力,天帮忙”的说法是有一定道理的。     

中国地质灾害防治成效与问题对策

文章回顾了中国地质灾害调查评价、监测预警、综合防治、应急响应、信息化建设、技术装备、技术标准、学术研究、行业进步和法治化建设等工作业绩。中国地质灾害造成的遇难人数1995~2000年年均死亡失踪1205人,2001~2005年均死亡失踪884人,2006~2010年均死亡失踪776人(2010年数据不含甘肃舟曲县城山洪泥石流造成的1765人死亡失踪),2011~2017年均死亡失踪395人,2018年死亡失踪112人。2001~2010年发生地质灾害总数量194702处,平均1.947万处/年;直接经济损失385.3亿元,平均38.5亿元/年,平均19.8万元/处。2011~2018年发生地质灾害总数量为84718处,平均1.06万处/年;直接经济损失355.7亿元,平均44.5亿元/年,平均41.9万元/处。2001年以来城乡社区直接经济损失占国家GDP的比例不断下降,平均年降率为0.016‰。地质灾害成功预报数量占地质灾害总数的比例从2003的5%上升到2018年的20%左右。经过采取各种减灾措施,城乡社区需要应急避险人数逐渐减少。总结了存在的问题和面临的形势,如防灾文化建设薄弱、法制不健全和直接经济损失统计局限于城乡社区而未覆盖工程建设行业的地质灾害等。提出了地质灾害防治要建立政府、企业、个人、社会(包括保险业)和科技界五位一体的防灾减灾“伙伴”关系等对策。     

Regional effects of natural disasters in China: investing in post-disaster recovery

We examine the effects of natural disasters on income and investment in China. Using macroeconomic province-level data and the provincial history of disaster exposure over the past two decades, we describe the relationship between disaster mortality and morbidity, disasters’ economic damages, government investment and regional economic activity, and infrastructure development. The Chinese government’s aggressive investment in post-disaster reconstruction is discussed, and the implications of this investment for post-disaster private sector economic activity are analyzed empirically. We further investigate the differential effects of natural disasters on economic activity in China’s diverse geographical regions.

     

Regional effects of natural disasters in China: investing in post-disaster recovery

We examine the effects of natural disasters on income and investment in China. Using macroeconomic province-level data and the provincial history of disaster exposure over the past two decades, we describe the relationship between disaster mortality and morbidity, disasters’ economic damages, government investment and regional economic activity, and infrastructure development. The Chinese government’s aggressive investment in post-disaster reconstruction is discussed, and the implications of this investment for post-disaster private sector economic activity are analyzed empirically. We further investigate the differential effects of natural disasters on economic activity in China’s diverse geographical regions.     

有害藻华的预测技术和防灾减灾对策研究进展

有害藻华给海洋生物、海水养殖业、海洋环境和公共健康安全造成了极大的威胁,已经成为世界性的海洋环境灾害之一.近几十年,我国近海有害藻华的发生频率和发生规模不断扩大,给国家经济发展和公共医疗卫生造成了极大的经济损失和不利影响.主要介绍了国内外常用的有害藻华预测技术,并参考国内外有效的有害藻华防治措施,为我国有害藻华的防灾减灾工作提出建议.我国亟需逐步建立有害藻华综合预警报业务体系和完备的应急减灾体系,才能进一步提升有害藻华等海洋环境灾害的应对能力.     

Spatio-temporal distributions of climate disasters and the response of wheat yields in China from 1983 to 2008

Climate disasters are now on the rise and more likely to increase in frequency and/or severity under climate change in the future. To clearly illustrate spatial–temporal distributions of climate disasters and the response of wheat yields to disasters over the past three decades, several disaster indices including the impact of climate disasters, the sensitivity to climate disasters and the response index of wheat yield losses to climate disasters were defined and calculated. The impact and sensitivity indices were examined by the agricultural production losses due to climate disasters, and the response of wheat yields to climate disasters was assessed by wheat yield loss compared with the 5-year moving average. The results showed that the indices of climate disaster impacts and sensitivities as well as response index of wheat yields to climate disasters could represent the spatial–temporal distributions of climate disasters well in the whole China. Droughts in northern China had higher impacts and sensitivities than those in southern China during the period 1983–2008, but the impacts of floods were opposite. In northern China, although impacted area by drought was larger than that by flood, the flood sensitivities were larger than drought sensitivities when flood happened. Although drought significantly affected wheat yields in most of the regions with drier conditions during 1983–2008 in major wheat-producing regions, better management practices like irrigation and drought-tolerant cultivars applied in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain can adapt to climate disasters especially droughts. To ensure the stability of agricultural production, future food security will need to be achieved through quantifying the relative effects of climate disasters and effective adaptation to increasingly frequent extreme climate events.     

The need for data: natural disasters and the challenges of database management

Hundreds of natural catastrophes occur worldwide every year—there were 780 loss events per year on average over the last 10 years. Since 1980, these disasters have claimed over two million lives and caused losses worth US$ 3,000 billion. The deadliest disasters were caused by earthquakes: the tsunami following the Sumatra quake (2004) and the Haiti earthquake (2010) claimed more than 220,000 lives each. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 was the costliest natural disaster of all times, with total losses of US$ 210 billion. Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, was the second costliest disaster, with total losses of US$ 140 billion (in 2010 values). To ensure that high-quality natural disaster analyses can be performed, the data have to be collected, checked and managed with a high degree of expertise and professionality. Scientists, governmental and non-governmental organisations and the finance industry make use of global databases that contain losses attributable to natural catastrophes. At present, there are three global and multi-peril loss databases: NatCatSERVICE (Munich Re), Sigma (Swiss Re) and EM-Dat (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters). They are supplemented by numerous databases focusing on national or regional issues, certain hazards and specific sectors. This paper outlines the criteria and definitions relating to how global and multi-peril databases are operated, and the efforts being made to ensure consistent and internationally recognised standards of data management. In addition, it presents the concept and methodology underlying the NatCatSERVICE database, and points out the many challenges associated with data acquisition and data management.     

US billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: data sources, trends, accuracy and biases

This paper focuses on the US Billion-dollar Weather/Climate Disaster report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. The current methodology for the production of this loss dataset is described, highlighting its strengths and limitations including sources of uncertainty and bias. The Insurance Services Office/Property Claims Service, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program and the US Department of Agriculture’s crop insurance program are key sources of quantified disaster loss data, among others. The methodology uses a factor approach to convert from insured losses to total direct losses, one potential limitation. An increasing trend in annual aggregate losses is shown to be primarily attributable to a statistically significant increasing trend of about 5 % per year in the frequency of billion-dollar disasters. So the question arises of how such trend estimates are affected by uncertainties and biases in the billion-dollar disaster data. The net effect of all biases appears to be an underestimation of average loss. In particular, it is shown that the factor approach can result in a considerable underestimation of average loss of roughly 10–15 %. Because this bias is systematic, any trends in losses from tropical cyclones appear to be robust to variations in insurance participation rates. Any attribution of the marked increasing trends in crop losses is complicated by a major expansion of the federally subsidized crop insurance program, as a consequence encompassing more marginal land. Recommendations concerning how the current methodology can be improved to increase the quality of the billion-dollar disaster dataset include refining the factor approach to more realistically take into account spatial and temporal variations in insurance participation rates.     

Assessment of provincial social vulnerability to natural disasters in China

Assessment of social vulnerability has been recognized as a critical step to understand natural hazard risks and to enhance effective response capabilities. Although significant achievements have been made in social vulnerability researches, little is know about the comprehensive profile of regional social vulnerability in China. In this study, the social vulnerability to natural hazards was firstly divided into socioeconomic and built environmental vulnerability. Then, using factor analysis, we identified the dominant factors that influence the provincial social vulnerability in China to natural hazards based on the socioeconomic and built environmental variables in 2000 and 2010 and explored the spatial patterns of social vulnerability. The results indicated that the provincial social vulnerability in China showed significant regional differences. The social vulnerability in the southeastern and eastern regions of China was greater than its northern and central parts over the past decade. Economic status, rural (proportion of agricultural population and percentage of workers employed in primary industries), urbanization, and age structure (children) were the dominant driving forces of variations in provincial socioeconomic vulnerability in two studied years, while lifelines and housing age could explain most of changes in built environmental vulnerability in 2000 and 2010. There were no statistically significant correlations between social vulnerability and disaster losses (p > 0.05), indicating the impact of disasters was also related to the intensity of hazards and exposure. Disaster relief funds allocated to each province of China depended more on its disaster severity than the regional integrated social vulnerability over the past decade. These findings would provide a scientific base for the policy making and implementation of disaster prevention and mitigation in China.     

Comparison of two large earthquakes in China: the 2008 Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake and the 2013 Sichuan Lushan Earthquake

Over a period of 5 years, two large earthquakes struck Sichuan Wenchuan and Lushan successively. The two main seismic zones are only 87 km apart along the same seismic belt on the Longmenshan fault. Although there was only one magnitude of difference between the two great quakes, losses from the 2013 Lushan Earthquake were much lower than that of 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. This study compares these disasters in terms of preparation and response in order to develop effective ways to reduce casualty and economic loss in future earthquakes. By determining what was done right after the Wenchuan Earthquake, we can better understand how to reduce future losses. This study focuses on seven factors: basic information, preparedness, government response, local residents’ responses, medical rescue teams’ work, earthquake-induced secondary effects, and injury character. We also recommend that three major actions should be emphasized to facilitate the most effective course of disaster planning and action. First, sufficient preparedness and strict preventive measures form the foundation to minimize damage and reduce casualties. Once the disaster had occurred, a single, well-run headquarters increases efficiency in rescue efforts. Finally, local rescue strength of both professional staff and citizens is the most critical factor to lower disaster casualties.     

The comprehensive risk evaluation on rainstorm and flood disaster losses in China mainland from 2004 to 2009: based on the triangular gray correlation theory

In this paper, we introduce the gray correlation method of risk evaluation in meteorological disaster losses based on historical disaster data in China (mainland) and apply the improved gray relational analysis model (the triangular gray relational model) to the risk evaluation of rainstorm and flood disaster losses. In addition, we divide the risk grade standards of rainstorm and flood disaster losses according to 186 rainstorm and flood disaster data of four optimization indexes (disaster area, suffered population, collapsed houses, and direct economic losses), evaluate the extent of dynamic rainstorm and flood disaster losses in 31 provinces of China (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan exclusive) comprehensively, and draw China’s zoning map of rainstorm and flood disaster from 2004 to 2009. The method provides reasonable and effective references for national disaster preventions which can be used in other researches focused on risk evaluation of meteorological disaster losses.     

Spatial and temporal evolution of community resilience to natural hazards in the coastal areas of China

With the accelerating progress of industrialization, urbanization and population growth in recent decades, community resilience, the ability of communities to function effectively and recover successfully in the aftermath of disasters and shocks, has received great attentions. A number of studies had been conducted focusing on community resilience. This article applied community resilience framework to the coastal areas of China, which are the most densely populated and economically developed areas in China with the most frequent marine disasters. City-level social and economic data were used to construct a community resilience index (CRI). Using factor analysis and the global principal component analysis method, 55 city-level indexes were reduced into 15 factors that explain 73.99% of the variance. Getis–Ord G* Statistics were used to depict the high-value clusters and low-value clusters of the CRI. Clearly identified spatial and temporal variations of the CRI showed that both the overall level and regional differences of the CRI increased from 2003 to 2013; the overall spatial agglomeration characteristic of community resilience was not significant. Our findings also highlighted the key elements to improving community resilience: a robust and developed economic system; excellent education programs and training to improve consciousness on disaster prevention and mitigation; adequate investment on critical infrastructure, especially transportation and communication; proper environmental policies to protect ecosystems and water rouses; and extra attention and disaster risk budgets for vulnerable populations.     

青海省地质灾害防治资金投入与成效分析

因特殊的地质环境条件,我省地质灾害发育,加之近年来经济增长、城镇扩张、降雨增多等因素共同影响,地质灾害数量和经济损失都呈现上升的趋势,因此地质灾害防治显得尤为必要。为全面认识地质灾害防治投入和社会经济发展的关系,本文通过对近十年的地质灾害现状、地质灾害防治投入和经济发展数据进行分析研究,建立固定经济投入下的总体收益函数,认为虽然青海省近年来地质灾害防治效果较好,但是从整体看,我省地质灾害防治投入较低,未达到最佳收益点。因此,相关部门在兼顾经济发展的同时也要关注地质灾害防治工作,随着经济增长适当调整防治投入,不仅能有效控制地质灾害损失,而且也保障社会其他效益。     

基于时空维度耦合的地质灾害发育程度评价研究

在现有地质灾害综合评价指标体系中,地质灾害发育程度评价因子只包括反映空间维度的点数量、点密度、体积数、体积密度等,不包括反映时间维度的评价因子。文章引入反映时间维度的受灾年份因子充实之。通过对地质灾害体积取中位数对数法、对受灾年份采用概率密度法进行处理和采用熵权法确定评价因子权重来建立时空耦合评价模型;采用斜率法将评价结果划分为高、较高、中、低四级,以反映已发生灾害的发育状况。选取2011—2020年已发生的地质灾害点,评价区域为除香港特别行政区、澳门特别行政区、台湾地区以外的全国31个省份,按此方法对以县域为单元的地质灾害发育程度进行评价与区划。结果表明:地质灾害高发育区共323个县,涉及19个省（自治区、直辖市）,主要分布在东南、西南、西北等地。较高发育区共566个县,涉及25个省（自治区、直辖市）,主要分布在西南、中南、东南等地。中发育区623个县,涉及30个省（自治区、直辖市）,主要包括西北、华北等地。低发育区共1336个县,涉及30个省（自治区、直辖市）,主要包括华北、东北、华东等地。本次评价结果与国家防灾部署、灾害发育分布具有较高的吻合度。野外实地调研证明,引入受灾年份后的评价结果较引入前更符合实际情况。     

On the driving forces of historical changes in the fatalities of tropical cyclone disasters in China from 1951 to 2014

Tropical cyclone (TC) disasters have frequently caused casualties in the coastal areas of China. According to the statistics of dead and missing people due to TCs from 1951 to 2014, the number of fatalities has been significantly decreasing over time. However, deadly TC events have still caused great losses of life in recent years, which are characterized as significant abrupt fluctuations superimposed along the downward trend of the long-term fatality time series. The numbers of fatalities caused by TC disasters are influenced by variables such as the intensity of TC hazards, the population exposed to TCs and the vulnerability of people to TC hazards. It is thus of great significance to analyze their temporal characteristics and understand the forces driving these changes. First, the time series of the TC wind, precipitation, spatial distribution of population, fatality and disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures of China from 1951 to 2014 are reconstructed. Second, the improved power dissipation index, total precipitation, integrated intensity and index of exposed population are calculated, and the population vulnerability indices, including mean and relative fatality rates, are derived. Third, the change trend of each index is detected using the Mann–Kendall test. Finally, the main driving factors of the long-term change trend and fluctuations of the TC fatalities are analyzed by a negative binomial regression model and standard deviation statistics. It is found that the decrease in vulnerability based on the improvement in structural and non-structural measures is the main driving force of the decreases in fatalities over the past six decades. Although the total population and exposure have increased dramatically in the coastal areas of China, their contributions to the increase in the fatality risk were counteracted by the decrease in vulnerability. Abrupt and catastrophic disasters were mostly caused by TCs with hazards of high intensity that surpassed the capacity of structural measures; the lack of forecasting or early warning, as well as improper emergency response actions, may also have triggered the great loss of lives. To reduce the fatalities of future TCs, especially those that may exceed the capacity of structural measures, the enhancement of non-structural measures and the adaptation of resilience strategies should be priorities for future people-centered disaster management.

     

Magnification of Flood Disasters and its Relation to Regional Precipitation and Local Human Activities since the 1980s in Xinjiang,Northwestern China

Analyses of flood disasters were conducted using 1950–2001 data on the flood-damaged areas of cropland, the annual number of flood disasters and the direct economic losses in Xinjiang. There is an increasing trend in flood disasters in Xinjiang during the second half of the 20th century, especially since the mid-1980s. Results of a non-parametric Mann–Kendall test on the cropland-flooded index time series revealed an abrupt change in the mid-1980s. The reasons are discussed with respect to changes in annual precipitation and regional human activities, by correlating cropland-flooded area to annual precipitation and three socio-economic parameters (population, cropland area and GDP). The correlation coefficients between the flood-damaged area and the annual precipitation during the periods 1961–1998 and 1987–1998 were substantially higher than during the period of 1961–1986. The correlation coefficients between the flood-damaged area and the three human activity parameters, however, were relatively high for the whole period of 1961–1998, but generally not significant for the 1961–1986 and 1987–1998 periods, separately. These suggest that the occurrence of flood disasters could be mainly induced by local human activities before the mid-1980s, and thereafter mainly by abnormal precipitation in Xinjiang. Meteorological and hydrological records showed that the number of heavy rainfall events and the frequency of rainstorm flood disasters increased since the 1980s. In addition, siltation of reservoirs and loss of flood control structures are partly responsible for the increase of flood-damaged area. These results suggest that the increasing trend in flood disasters in Xinjiang since the middle 1980s could be attributed, at least in part, to an increasing trend in annual precipitation.     

21世纪地震灾害的一些新特点

灾害定量化是地球科学、工程科学和社会经济科学的交叉领域。人口城市化是全球的发展趋势，特别在第三世界人口城市化的趋势越来越显著。和农村发生突发灾害农民可以很容易地进行自救和互救不同，城市居民对供水、供电、煤气、暖气、通讯和交通等基础设施有很大的依赖性，现代城市在抗御自然灾害方面，比过去任何时候都显得更加脆弱。通过统计，我们发现在灾害损失 L和表征社会财富的GDP之间存在着经验关系：L＝ a＋ b×GDP＋ c×GDP 2其中 a，b，c为正的常数。关系式表明，自然灾害造成的灾害增长要比GDP的增长要快。