Post-disaster building repair and retrofit in a disaster-prone historical village in China: A case study in Shangli, Sichuan

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold: to investigate people's response on building repair and retrofit, and to identify the impediments of limited response in a case historical village Shangli located in disaster-prone mountainous area. The conclusions are as follows. Firstly, the local people were unsatisfied with the limited disaster resistance of their buildings. However, their repair and retrofit activities were limited. Three-quarters of the damaged buildings were not repaired or just partly repaired. Moreover, disaster-resistant retrofit was not seriously considered; two-thirds of the buildings were simply reinforced, mostly by the owners in the process of repair. Secondly, the buildings built before 1981, the wooden and wooden–brick buildings, and those severely damaged, were repaired less, comparing with buildings built after 1980, modern building types of confined-brick and reinforced concrete, and slightly or moderately damaged buildings. Thirdly, the impediments to the repair and retrofit activities were limited access to building technology, the administrative licensing problem, and impediment to decision-making due to property right subdivision. Fourthly, the repair activities on the buildings built before 1981 were particularly impeded by the administrative licensing problem.