LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS. PART III C: CHINA’ EARTHQUAKES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT PLACE CHINA’S COMMUNITIES AT RISK FLOODS TYPHOONS EARTHQUAKES LANDSLIDESS ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ENACT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES HAVING HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE GOAL: DISASTER RESILIENCE

CHINA’SCOMMUNITIESCHINA’SCOMMUNITIES DATA BASES AND INFORMATION HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS TYPHOON HAZARDS BLDG. INVENTORY VULNERABILITY LOCATION EARTHQUAKE RISK RISK ACCEPTABLE RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK GOAL: EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RESILIENCE PREPAREDNESS PROTECTION EARLY WARNING EMERGENCY RESPONSE RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION POLICY OPTIONS

POLICY ADOPTION RISK ASSESSMENT VULNERABILITYVULNERABILITY EXPOSUREEXPOSURE EVENTEVENT POLICY ASSESSMENT COSTCOST BENEFITBENEFIT CONSEQUENCESCONSEQUENCES TOWARDS EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RESILIENCE QUAKESQUAKES EXPECTED LOSS

MAP OF CHINA’S PROVINCES

EARTHQUAKES EARTHQUAKES OCCUR FREQUENTLY IN CHINA AS A RESULT OF COMPLEX INTERACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC, INDO- AUSTRALIA, AND EURASIAN PLATES

INADEQUATE RESISTANCE TO HORIZONTAL GROUND SHAKING EARTHQUAKES SOIL AMPLIFICATION PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT (SURFACE FAULTING & GROUND FAILURE) IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION AND PLAN TSUNAMI WAVE RUNUP POOR DETAILING AND WEAK CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FRAGILITY OF NON-STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS CAUSES OF DAMAGE “DISASTER LABORATORIES”

LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL NOTABLE EARTHQUAKES PREPAREDNESS PLANNING FOR THE INEVITABLE GROUND SHAKING IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL NOTABLE EARTHQUAKES PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS AND INFRASTRUCTURE IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

NOTES FOR SOME OF CHINA’S NOTABLE HISTORIC EARTHQUAKES

DATE, LOCATION, AND DEATHS 1290, HOPEH PROVINCE- 100, , SHENSHI PROVINCE- 830, , KANSU PROVINCE– 180, , KANSU PROVINCE– 70, , TANGSHAN, HEBEI PROVINCE– 255, , SICHUAN PROVINCE- 88,000

THE TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE HUBEI PROVINCE July 28, 1976

TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE: 3:42 AM, JULY 28, 1976

TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE: OCCURRENCE The M7.8 Tanshan earthquake, the deadliest earthquake of the 20 th century, occurred when a fault beneath the city of 1.6 million inhabitants ruptured at 3:42 am. A M7.1 aftershock followed 16 hours later, exacerbating damage and reducing hope for survivors.

TANGSHAN WAS UNPREPARED In 1976, experts believed that Tangshan was located in a region with a relatively low probability of occurrence and a low risk from earthquakes; Therefore, Tangshan was NOT prepared.

TANGSHAN’S BUILDINGS WERE UNPROTECTED Few, if any, buildings had been sited, designed, and built in accordance with the seismic design provisions of a modern building code, and buildings were sited on unstable alluvial soil, --- Therefore, hundreds of thousands of buildings collapsed,.

TANGSHAN’S BUILDINGS COLLAPSED Therefore, 85 percent of the buildings (hundreds of thou- sands of buildings performing all types of functions) collapsed and widespread loss of function of city lifelines occurred.

LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL NATURAL HAZARDS CAPACITY FOR INTELLIGENT EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

SURVIVORS WERE BURIED UNDER THE RUBBLE Survivors were buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings at 3:42 am, with little hope of a timely rescue and medical care within the hour “Golden Period” by the first responders of a city that was UNPREPARED.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE The Chinese Government refused to accept international aid from the United Nations, or other countries, insisting on self-reliance. Shanghai sent 56 medical teams to Tangshan to assist.

LESSONS LEARNED FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL NATURAL HAZARDS CAPACITY FOR RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

THE TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE’S ECONOMIC LOSS The economic loss was placed at 10 billion yuan. 255,000The total loss, which requires placing a value on the loss of 255,000+ lives, is incalculable.

TANGSHAN: RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION The recovery and reconstruction phase was very political and very complex, taking more than 10 years to restore the city to normal. Today, Tangshan, known as the “Brave City of China” is a modern city of 3 million inhabitants.

THE WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE SICHUAN PROVINCE May 12, 2008

MONDAY, 12 MAY, :28 PM LOCAL TIME The ongoing regional com- pression creating the Tibetan foothills caused the Longmenshan fault to rupture and generate a M8.0 earthquake at a shallow focal depth of only 19 km (11,8 miles).

COLLAPSED BUILDINGS: BEICHUAN

WITHIN A FEW HOURS Forty-four of the counties and districts of Sishuan Province and one-half of its 20 million people were directly affected. Over 220,000 were injured. An estimated 88,000 were killed.

TUESDAY, 13 MAY, 2008 The Chinese government announced its willingness to receive international assistance. Search and rescue activities were intensified with the assistance of a number of international teams of search and rescue experts and medical doctors.

SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM: DUJIANGYAN

WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY, 2008 An 8-months pregnant woman was among those rescued from collapsed buildings in an all out effort to rescue survivors.

PREGNANT WOMAN RESCUED: DUJIANGYAN

WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY, 2008 Soldiers were dispatched to repair Zipingpu dam after cracks were discovered in 391 dams in the epicentral region

FRIDAY, 16 MAY 2008 The Chinese Government increased the number of soldiers involved in emergency response to 130,000 Survivors were still being removed from rubble.

SOLDIERS REPAIR CRACKS IN ZIPINGPU DAM:DUJIANGYAN

The earthquake showed that the communities in the Sichian Province were UNPREPARED for what happened!

25 million buildings and the infrastructure to support them were UNPROTECTED by modern building codes or modern lifeline standards.

WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE SICHUAN PROVINCE,CHINA MAY 12, ,000 DEAD 25 MILLION HOMES DAMAGED OR DESTROYED