China Planning Network (CPN)

China Week 2008

The China Post

Experts discuss Sichuan reconstruction

AP
Thursday, July 17, 2008

BEIJING -- China must begin its long-term reconstruction and recovery efforts after this year's massive quake by involving survivors and local officials in the rebuilding process, international experts said Wednesday.

The May 12 earthquake, centered in Sichuan province, killed nearly 70,000 people, injured 375,000 others and left more than 5 million people homeless. Lax regulations and poor construction methods have been blamed for the collapse of many buildings, especially schools.

"The best tribute to those lost is to learn from this national tragedy and prevent such a costly event from happening again," said Salvano Briceno, the U.N.'s director of international strategy for disaster reduction, said at a post-quake reconstruction conference in Beijing.

"The key is to focus on reducing risk and vulnerability to provide genuine future protection," Briceno said, reading from a keynote statement by the U.N. Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes who did not attend.

Briceno said developing countries should be looking at economic development and disaster risk reduction at the same time. Governments should be investing money now in sturdier construction, for example, rather than spend millions more in reacting to natural disasters, he said.

The conference, organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, brought together top urban planners and disaster recovery experts from the United States, Europe and Asia.

"The reconstruction efforts that tend to be successful are those that attempt to learn from the needs of the local population and engage local officials, instead of a single solution delivered in a top-down manner," Lawrence Vale, head of MIT's department of urban studies and planning, said in an interview.

"If it's seen as rebuilding communities, instead of individual lives, it's more likely to be a successful reconstruction effort," he said.

On Wednesday, the United Nations also launched an appeal for US$33.5 million to assist quake victims and help restore services and infrastructure destroyed during the quake.

According to the Chinese government, reconstruction could take up to three years during which permanent housing must be rebuilt, jobs and services restored and collapsed schools and hospitals rebuilt.

In total, more than 40 million people were affected by the quake in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Some 5 million buildings collapsed and 21 million buildings were damaged.