Abstract
There have been many practical programs suggested for building resilient cities and communities, many of which have been driven by governments to focus on disaster prevention rather than focusing on the needs of the affected population. The rebuilding resilient homeland (RRH) program discussed in this paper was a post-Lushan earthquake reconstruction, NGO-led, people-oriented experimental program. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to determine the methods used by the NGOs to lead the reconstruction program for “building back better” and identify the role that NGOs can play in state–civil society relations. Harnessing information gathered from fieldwork, interviews, and document reviews, this paper offers an in-depth case study of the RRH program, with a specific focus on the “resilience” associated with infrastructure, capability, mechanisms, and culture, and the “homeland” associated with safe homes, safe communities, safe schools, and a safe future. The program review revealed useful references for the future development of resilient cities and communities, with people-oriented strategies, community involvement and multi-stakeholder collaborations being the three most salient features. This experimental program also revealed that NGOs and governments could use the institutional opportunities arising from disasters to develop cooperative programs to “build back better” and further facilitate state–civil society relations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainuddin S, Routray JK (2012) Earthquake hazards and community resilience in Baluchistan. Nat Hazards 63(2):909–937
Aldrich DP, Meyer MA (2015) Social capital and community resilience. Am Behav Sci 59(2):254–269
Amina A, Shinichi E, Hiroyuki S, Chadia W, Virginia M (2015) The Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction: renewing the global commitment to people’s resilience, health, and well-being. Int J Disaster Risk Sci 6(2):164–176
Anita C, Malcolm W, Alonzo P, Alix S, Wells KB, Mariana H, Jennifer T (2013) Getting actionable about community resilience: the Los Angeles county community disaster resilience program. Am J Public Health 103(7):1181–1189
Arnstein SR (1969) A ladder of citizen participation. J Am Inst Plan 35(4):216–224
Bassett M, Wilkinson S, Mannakkara S (2017) Legislation for building back better of horizontal infrastructure. Disaster Prev Manag 26(1):94–104
Bilau AA, Witt E (2016) An analysis of issues for the management of post-disaster housing reconstruction. Int J Strat Prop Manag 20(3):265–276
Bilau AA, Witt E, Lill I (2015) A framework for managing post-disaster housing reconstruction. Procedia Econ Finance 21(15):313–320
Bolin R, Stanford L (1998) The Northridge earthquake: community-based approaches to unmet recovery needs. Disasters 22(1):21–38
Carothers T (1999) Think again: civil society. Foreign Policy 117:18–29
Chi GC, Williams M, Chandra A, Plough A, Eisenman D (2015) Partnerships for community resilience: perspectives from the los angeles county community disaster resilience program. Public Health 129(9):1297–1300
Choudhury MU, Emdad HC (2018) Interpretations of resilience and change and the catalytic roles of media: a case of Canadian daily newspaper discourse on natural disasters. Environ Manage 61(5737):1–13
Cuervo I, Leopold L, Baron S (2017) Promoting community preparedness and resilience: a Latino immigrant community–driven program following hurricane sandy. Am J Public Health 107(S2):161–164
Curnin S, O’Hara D (2019) Nonprofit and public sector interorganizational collaboration in disaster recovery: lessons from the field. Nonprofit Manag Leadersh 30(2):277–297
Dube E (2020) The build-back-better concept as a disaster risk reduction strategy for positive reconstruction and sustainable development in Zimbabwe: a literature study. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 43:101401
Dunford M, Li L (2011) Earthquake reconstruction in Wenchuan: assessing the state overall plan and addressing the ‘forgotten phase’. Appl Geogr 31(3):998–1009
Eikenberry AM, Verónica A, Cooper T (2007) Administrative failure and the international NGO response to hurricane Katrina. Public Adm Rev 67(s1):160–170
Eisenhardt KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. Acad Manag Rev 14(4):532–550
Espia JCP, Fernandez P (2015) Insiders and outsiders: local government and NGO engagement in disaster response in Guimaras, Philippines. Disasters 39(1):51–68
Hill L (2014) Life after the volcano: the embodiment of small island memories and efforts to keep Montserratian culture alive in Preston, UK. Area 46(2):146–153
Hsu JY, Hasmath R (2014) The local corporatist state and NGO relations in China. J Contemp China 23(87):516–534
Huang VG (2018) Floating control: examining factors affecting the management of the civil society sector in authoritarian China. Soc Mov Stud 17(4):378–392
Huang Y, Zhou L, Wei K (2011) 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake recovery government policies and non-governmental organizations’ participation. Asia Pac J Soc Work Dev 21(2):77–91
Imperiale AJ, Vanclay F (2016) Experiencing local community resilience in action: learning from post-disaster communities. J Rural Stud 47(Part A):204–219
Islam R, Walkerden G (2015) How do links between households and NGOs promote disaster resilience and recovery?: a case study of linking social networks on the Bangladeshi coast. Nat Hazards 78(3):1707–1727
Kang Y (2017) The development of grassroots Chinese NGOs following the Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008: three case studies, four Modi Vivendi. Voluntas 28(4):1–25
Kennedy J, Ashmore J, Babister E, Kelman I (2008) The meaning of ‘Build Back Better’: evidence from post-tsunami Aceh and Sri Lanka. J Contingencies Crisis Manag 16(1):24–36
Kim K, Olshansky RB (2014) The theory and practice of building back better. J Am Plan As 80(4):289–292
Li H, Lo CWH, Tang SY (2017) Nonprofit policy advocacy under authoritarianism. Public Adm Rev 77(1):103–117
Liu Q, Wang RY, Dang H (2018) The hidden gaps in rural development: examining peasant–NGO relations through a post-earthquake recovery project in Sichuan, China. China Q 233:43–63
Lu Y, Xu J (2014) The progress of emergency response and rescue in china: a comparative analysis of Wenchuan and Lushan earthquakes. Nat Hazards 74(2):421–444
Lu Y, Xu J (2015) NGO collaboration in community post-disaster reconstruction: field research following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. Disasters 39(2):258–278
Malalgoda C, Amaratunga D, Haigh R (2013) Creating a disaster resilient built environment in urban cities: the role of local governments in Sri Lanka. Int J Disaster Resil Built Environ 6(1):102–116
Maly E (2017) Building back better with people centered housing recovery. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 29:84–93
Mannakkara S, Wilkinson S, Potangaroa R (2014) Build back better: implementation in Victorian bushfire reconstruction. Disasters 38(2):267–290
Matsunaga Y, Yamauchi N, Okuyama N (2010) What determines the size of the nonprofit sector? a cross-country analysis of the government failure theory. Voluntas 21(2):180–201
Mutch C (2018) The role of schools in helping communities copes with earthquake disasters: the case of the 2010–2011 New Zealand earthquakes. Environ Hazards 17(4):1–21
Nikkhah H, Redzuan M (2010) The role of NGOs in promoting empowerment for sustainable community development. J Hum Ecol 30(2):85–92
Norris FH, Stevens SP, Pfefferbaum B, Wyche KF, Pfefferbaum RL (2008) Community resilience as a metaphor, theory, set of capacities, and strategy for disaster readiness. Am J Commun Psychol 41(1–2):127–150
Oliver-Smith A (1990) Post-disaster housing reconstruction and social inequality: a challenge to policy and practice. Disasters 14(1):7–19
Peng L, Wu F (2018) Building up alliances and breaking down the state monopoly: the rise of non-governmental disaster relief in China. China Q 234:463–485
Robert KY (1981) The case study crisis: some answers. Adm Sci Q 26(1):58–65
Roney B (2011) Earthquakes and civil society: a comparative study of the response of China’s nongovernment organizations to the Wenchuan earthquake. China Inf 25(1):83–104
Scannell L, Gifford R (2017) Place attachment enhances psychological need satisfaction. Environ Behav 49(4):359–389
Shaw R (2003) The role of nongovernmental organizations in earthquake disaster management: an Asian perspective. Reg Dev Dialogue 24(1):117–129
Shaw R, Goda K (2004) From disaster to sustainable civil society: the Kobe experience. Disasters 28(1):16–40
Shaw R, Sinha R (2003) Towards sustainable recovery: future challenges after the Gujarat earthquake, India. Risk Manag 5(3):35–51
Shieh S, Deng G (2011) An emerging civil society: the impact of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake on grass-roots associations in China. China J 65:181–194
Shiwaku K, Shaw R, Kandel RC, Shrestha SN, Dixit AM (2006) Promotion of disaster education in Nepal: the role of teachers as change agents. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters 24(3):403–420
Shiwaku K, Ueda Y, Oikawa Y, Shaw R (2016) School disaster resilience assessment in the affected areas of 2011 East Japan earthquake and tsunami. Nat Hazards 82(1):333–365
Slavin ML, Goodstein S (1987) Of market failure, voluntary failure, and third-party government: toward a theory of government-nonprofit relations in the modern welfare state. J Volunt Action Res 16(1–2):29–49
Spaans M, Waterhout B (2017) Building up resilience in cities worldwide: rotterdam as participant in the 100 resilient cities programme. Cities 61:109–116
Tang SY, Lo CWH (2009) The political economy of service organization reform in China: an institutional choice analysis. J Public Adm Res Theor 19(4):731–767
Tang W, Li J, Lei Z, Wang E, Shen W (2015) Creating social–physical resilience to natural disasters: lessons from the Wenchuan earthquake. Nat Hazards 79(2):1111–1132
Teets JC (2013) Let many civil societies bloom: the rise of consultative authoritarianism in China. The China Quarterly 213:19–38
Thiruppugazh V (2014) Post-disaster reconstruction and institutional mechanisms for risk reduction: a comparative study of three disasters in India. In: Shaw Rajib (ed) Disaster Recovery. Springer, Tokyo, pp 17–39
Tierney K (2012) Disaster Governance: social, Political, and Economic Dimensions. Annual Review of Environment & Resource 37(1):341–363
Townshend I, Awosoga O, Kulig J, Fan H (2015) Social cohesion and resilience across communities that have experienced a disaster. Nat Hazards 76(2):913–938
Tumini I, Villagra-Islas P, Herrmann-Lunecke G (2017) Evaluating reconstruction effects on urban resilience: a comparison between two Chilean tsunami-prone cities. Nat Hazards 85(3):1363–1392
UN-Habitat (2011) Shelter and housing: UN habitat in disaster and conflict contexts. http://unhabitat.org.ir/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/2_Shelter-and-Housing.pdf
Vahanvati M, Mulligan M (2017) A new model for effective post-disaster housing reconstruction: lessons from Gujarat and Bihar in India. Int J Progr Manag 35:802–817
Wang CY, Guo J, Kuo MF (2020) The building of social resilience in Sichuan after the Wenchuan earthquake: a perspective of the socio-government interactions. Saf Sci 126:104662
Wisner B (2017) “Build back better”? The challenge of Goma and beyond. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 26:101–105
Xu XW, Wen XZ, Han ZJ et al (2013) Lushan M S7. 0 earthquake: a blind reserve-fault event. Chin Sci Bullet 58(28–29):3437–3443
Xu J, Xu D, Lu Y (2016) Resident participation in post-Lushan earthquake housing reconstruction: a multi-stage field research method-based inquiry. Environ Hazards 15(2):128–147
Xu J, Wang Q, Xu D, Lu Y (2017) Types of community-focused organisations for disaster risk reduction in the Longmen Shan Fault area. Environ Hazards 17(3):181–199
Xu J, Xu D, Lu Y, Wang Q (2018) A bridged government–NGOs relationship in post-earthquake reconstruction: the Ya’an service center in Lushan earthquake. Nat Hazards 90(2):537–562
Yuan Y, Sima Z, Muhammad H, Lu Y (2018) Devastating earthquakes facilitating civil societies in developing countries: across-national analysis. Environ Hazards 17(3):352–370
Zhang X, Yi L, Zhao D (2013) Community-based disaster management: a review of progress in China. Nat Hazards 65(3):2215–2239
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71704124), the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 17YJC630096), the Major Program of the Social Science Foundation of Sichuan (Grant No. SC18EZD026), the Research Funding of Sichuan University (Grant No. 2018hhf-43), and the International Visiting Program for Excellent Youth Scholar of SCU.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This study was approved by the ethics committee of Sichuan University (ethical review No: K2019072). The data collection for interviews are anonymized.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lu, Y., Li, R. Rebuilding resilient homeland: an NGO-led post-Lushan earthquake experimental reconstruction program. Nat Hazards 104, 853–882 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04194-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04194-3