Abstract
China is a country often subjected to severe meteorological disasters. Analyzing the evolution of policies concerning the prevention and reduction of disasters is of great practical significance for the management of such natural events. We focus on typhoons and rainstorms as disaster sources and examine policy documents from two dimensions: basic policy instruments and disaster chains. Results indicate that (1) two levels of government (central and local) focus on five policy instruments; namely, they are fund and material input, infrastructure construction and management, information sharing and support, goal programming, and regulations. Other policies, however, such as engineering construction of disaster prevention, or material reserves and international cooperation, are relatively few. (2) At present, both the Central and Local governments prefer both supply-oriented policies and environment-oriented policies to focusing on demand-oriented policies. (3) As for the disaster chains, the typhoon and rainstorm disaster policies are focused on disaster defense, disaster warning, and disaster relief, neglecting disaster evaluation and post-disaster reconstruction. Finally, we put forward suggestions for perfecting the policies of disaster evaluation and post-disaster reconstruction, and point out the importance of demand-oriented policies.
Highlights
In China, the occurrence rate of meteorological disasters is relatively high compared to those in many other regions of the world
The findings indicate the following: (1) In terms of basic policy instruments, the central and local governments exhibit high consistency in applying basic policy
Various provinces have established their own local emergency response mechanisms and meteorological disaster warning systems according to the local situation
Summary
In China, the occurrence rate of meteorological disasters is relatively high compared to those in many other regions of the world. In order to better manage typhoons and rainstorms, the State Council has jointly promulgated a series of policy documents with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and other local governments. There were policies set forth in 17 provinces but the number of policies promulgated in just the four provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu was far greater than that in the other provinces, mainly because these four provinces, located on the southeastern coast, are more vulnerable to typhoons and rainstorms. The number of policies enacted by provinces more vulnerable to rainstorm and typhoon disasters is obviously greater than those of other provinces These policies have achieved much, gaps still remain. There are a number of provinces in China, such as Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong, that are affected by typhoons and rainstorms. China has stressed the importance of sustainable development since the “Outlook on Scientific Development” was first proposed by former General Party Secretary Hu Jintao in 2004, and we have collected policy documents at two levels of government, Central and Local, from 2004 to 2016
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