China’s Earthquake Emergency Management Policy And Paradigm Shift

China is an Earthquake-prone country.Since the founding of China,large earthquakes such as Xingtai earthquake,Tangshan earthquake,Wenchuan earthquake,as well as small or medium-sized earthquakes have caused great losses.In order to mitigate the damage caused by earthquakes,China is actively promoting the development and reform of earthquake emergency management policies.The guidelines for earthquake work are also constantly being adjusted.However,it can be found that there was no special policy for earthquake emergency management in China before the Xingtai earthquake,and the Law on Protecting Against and Mitigating Earthquake Disasters was made in 1997.It can be seen that the development and change of seismic policies are not only related to the public needs for earthquake prevention and mitigation.Based on the above phenomena,this study will explore the history of changes in China’s earthquake policy,classify different stages of earthquake policy paradigms according to different policy goals,analyze the historical background characteristics of each policy paradigm,summarize the factors of policy changes and propose future directions of earthquake policy development.Academics have explored certain policy paradigm shifts in the field of emegency management.They tend to combine historical institutionalism,the framework of punctuated equilibrium,advocacy coalition framework,multiple-streams framework,and policy learning theory with policy paradigm change theory to analyze the process and causes of policy paradigm shift.Peter Hall’s policy paradigm shift theory,punctuated equilibrium theory and historical institutionalism are used to explore the earthquake policy paradigm from the perspectives of policy goals,policy issues,policy subjects and policy language style.In addition,this study selects the Xingtai earthquake,the Tangshan earthquake,and the Wenchuan earthquake as typical cases to analyze the anomalous events that caused the changes in the policy system,to illustrate the context of the times that shaped different policy goals and policy tools,and to explore the reasons that caused the changes in the earthquake policy paradigm.Since the founding of the country,China’s earthquake emergency management policy has experienced four types of paradigms: the paradigm focusing on disaster responding from 1949 to 1966,the paradigm focusing on earthquake prevention from1966 to 1988,the paradigm focusing on earthquake prevention and mitigation from1989 to 2015,and the paradigm combining disaster prevention,mitigation,and relief from 2016 to the present.The policy goals of earthquake emergency management have changed from focusing on disaster respond to integrated disaster mitigation.The subjects of policy making has changed from no dedicated earthquake agency to a unified and dedicated earthquake management system including the Ministry of Emergency Management,the Earthquake Bureau and so on.The policy language has changed from a motivational language to a managed and governed language.The policy tools have been constantly developed and improved.Taking into account the earthquake emergency management policy,it can be found that it follows the path dependence of policy paradigm,the increasingly diversified subjects of earthquake emergency management,and the change of economic system affects the adjustment of earthquake emergency management policy tools.In promoting the paradigm shift,Xingtai earthquake,UN advocacy,and the requirements of the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance played a key role.In promoting the improvement of policy tools,factors such as the Tangshan earthquake,reform,SARS,Wenchuan earthquake,and the establishment of a socialist market economy played an important role.In conclusion,national strategic adjustments,changes in the economic and fiscal systems,administrative reforms,the international environment,and unexpected events such as the earthquake have driven the shifts in China’s earthquake policy paradigm and the adjustment of policy tools.China’s earthquake public policy suffers from insufficient collaboration of multiple subjects,insufficient application of information technology,incomplete construction of rule of law and insufficient economic policy tools.The organization and coordination of earthquake emergency management,technological innovation,rule of law construction and economic management should be used to solve these problems.Government should strengthen the collaboration within multiple subjects,strengthen the earthquake monitoring and build an integrated emergency management platform,ensure sound lawmaking,strict law enforcement,impartial administration of justice and observance of law,and promote the development of disaster compensation mechanisms and financial management for earthquake emergency management.In the future,the earthquake emergency management policy should take advantage of the strategic adjustment of domestic and international to incorporate the useful suggestions into public policies in time,and promote the development of earthquake emergency management in China.