Delphi process applied to the 921 earthquake relief for damaged bridges in Taiwan

This paper presents panel-developed, expert opinion-based suggestions, and a Delphi process for the development of an earthquake damage assessment and recovery model. The model was specifically designed for the disaster relief of the damaged bridges of the 921 earthquake in Taiwan and uses four major indices: emergency handling ability, administrative capability, budget execution responsibility, and law enforcement reliability. The 921 earthquake, which occurred on September 21, 1999, forced the Taiwanese government into an unprecedented relief operation consisting of emergency rescue and reconstruction. However, some of the relief measures reflected possible inefficiency in intergovernmental cooperation. Regarded as one of the most decisive relief measures in Taichung County before it was consolidated and upgraded to a municipality on 25 December, 2010, the rescue and reconstruction of the majorly damaged bridges in the county were taken as an example to analyze the differences in the earthquake relief policies between the central and local governments. Based on experts’ experiences in government affairs and the four major indices of the damage assessment and recovery model, the ongoing governmental restructuring policy is considered retrospectively not only at the central government level but also at the local government level; this would serve to improve preparedness for catastrophes and to solve possible problems in earthquake-related intergovernmental cooperation.