A Study On Restoration And Reconstruction Of Stricken Areas By Earthquakes

Our country suffers various kinds of frequent natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, typhoon and storms, collapses, landslides, and mud-rock flows, which threaten seriously the safety of people life and property, national economy construction and sustainable of the society. Among them, disasters by earthquakes are most dangerous because of their sudden occurrence and strong destruction. A major earthquake can cause personal injuries and deaths, house collapses, damage of lifeline engineering, and induce secondary disasters such as floods, fires and diseases, produces further impacts on basic conditions of daily life and normal functions of the society.Statistics shows that about 80-90% of earthquakes in China occur in the countryside. For instance, all the 21 destructive earthquakes of 2003 happened in rural areas of the Chinese mainland. The village people accounts for more than a half of the total population of our country. Because of relatively backward developed economy, culture, and technology, the resistance and prevention against earthquakes in rural areas are generally very poor. Once a major or even moderate earthquake occurs, it will produce serious personal injuries and deaths as well as destruction of buildings. To prevent potential seismic hazards in the future, restoration and reconstruction of stricken rural areas are particularly important and should be highly appreciated.Previous studies of earthquake disasters were focused on aspects of natural sciences such as causes and strength features of natural phenomena. In recent years more attention have been shifted to human behaviors, social responses, and emergent treatment which belong to social science. This thesis attempts to use the theory and method of sociology to reveal the running rules from destruction to restoration of living conditions after earthquake disasters occur.First, the concepts of restoration and reconstruction are presented and the geographic range of the rural areas is defined. After a destructive earthquake, activity of restoration and reconstruction is beyond the normal running orbit of the society, and it must be accomplished by all kinds of social communities. Therefore the restoration and reconstruction is directly related to disaster relief after earthquakes. The process of the postseismic relief can be subdivided into four stages: rush-rescue, emergency, restoration, and reconstruction. In general restoration and reconstruction are more important, because they imply the stricken areas return to the ordered state...