Reconstruction in after Sichuan earthquake

Introduction

After Sichuan earthquake, some of the hardest hit areas, like Beichuan County, were razed to the ground. It was estimated that 99% of the houses in Qingchuan County will need to be reconstructed. In addition to buildings, many highways, railways, bridges, electricity and communications networks, water reservoirs and other infrastructure elements have been seriously damaged. These infrastructure damages not only add to the financial and environmental cost of the quake, but complicate the execution of other reconstruction efforts.

The mountain ecosystem also presents challenges for rebuilding. Land suitable for building are limited, resource availability is comparatively low, and the terrain makes it challenging for supplies to be transported in and debris moved out. The huge reconstruction demand will increase environmental pressures in this area.

On June 8th, Premier Wen Jiabao signed a regulation on reconstruction which established "combining the protection of the ecological environment with economic and social development" as a guiding principle in reconstruction.

Revitalization of the basic health services and core public health programs and functions such as clinic services and hygienic cleaning workers.
Assist in efforts to recover, identify and bury casualties in ways sensitive to the community's practices and beliefs such as immigration services.
For displaced populations, provide shelter and basic facilities such as temporary houses.
Provide food/water supplies and rehabilitation.
Provide psychosocial and mental health services such as doctor to take care children and families.
Financial analysis for distribute fund collection from other organizations and countries such as Red Cross, Oxford.

Strategy should balance the short versus longer term needs after earthquake. Furthermore, a transitional strategy to bridge between the emergency phase and the reconstruction phase is needed.

Between first 3 months and 12 months at aftermath

In the short term, typically the most urgent need is ensuring access to an essential health care package that reduces vulnerabilities and saves lives during system revitalization. This usually includes revitalization of the basic health services and core public health programs and functions

Life Threat

In addition to environmental concerns, the sheer physical presence of water poses health concerns. Landslides filled in portions of rivers in Sichuan province, creating "quake lakes," huge pools of backed-up water. These quake lakes are a lingering threat to residents, potentially endangering the lives of millions of people if the water builds up and then barriers break. Tangjiashan quake lake is the largest quake lake, and has been urgently dredged to lessen the danger.

Break through ways and reconstruct road

All supplementary material including medicines, water, food, tents and heavy construction machines are conveyed immediately behind disaster. That can increase saving efficiency.

Communication system

To recover communication system is domain job to do, workers let outsiders know situation of disaster place which can assist and save victims in a short time. Moreover, it can also be arranged and designed suitable method to take place rescue.

Electric Power and roads

The Government disaster relief fund reached 54.72 billion yuan (US$ 7.82 billion). As of 2 July: 52 362 km ...

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Break through ways and reconstruct road

All supplementary material including medicines, water, food, tents and heavy construction machines are conveyed immediately behind disaster. That can increase saving efficiency.

Communication system

Electric Power and roads

The Government disaster relief fund reached 54.72 billion yuan (US$ 7.82 billion). As of 2 July: 52 362 km of the 53 295 km of roads damaged in the quake had been restored, 6 880 out of 8 426 damaged waterworks had resumed operation and 44 370 km out of the 48 276 km ruptured water supply pipelines had been restored. As of 27 June, power has been restored in all quake-hit areas of Sichuan province except for two towns submerged by quake-formed lakes. The Government stated there was currently no need to restore power in these two towns after residents have been evacuated.

Building temporary shelters

Proper disposal of all the debris from buildings that were destroyed presents a large environmental and health challenge. According to incomplete statistics given by the State Council Information Office, about 5,932,500 houses were seriously damaged and 5,461,900 houses collapsed; however, over may have been affected as well. China's military has already disposed of nearly 8 million cubic meters of debris, . And cleanup has barely begun, as the government's priority has instead been providing temporary housing.

Eventually, the rubble is probably destined to be dumped into the fields and valleys of rural areas, though some may be recycled for rebuilding. However, some , causing residents to worry about health impacts.

In earthquake area, about 3,000 tents provide for serving as home to about 10,000 people who have moved across the river from the devastated town of Qingchuan. Again, the tents are laid out in a very orderly fashion, with many housing 5-6 people. Early on, before sufficient relief supplies arrived, 12 to 15 people shared one tent.

Construction crews who are working 24 hours a day to build prefabricated shelters, which will serve as more substantial temporary housing until permanent reconstruction can begin. This is a critical need as these shelters will better withstand the upcoming rainy season. Some tents already are being dismantled as people move into these new shelters -- which may well have to house people for 2-3 years, as the scope of reconstruction is massive.

Some tents serve as market stalls, selling food to supplement free provisions at the camp, others as barber shops, dentist's offices, etc. Early on, relief workers could provide only one bottle of water and one container of noodles per person per day. With the roads cleared enough relief supplies are now coming in.

Building temporary school

The school is the second of the mobile schools built by Project Hope in the earthquake zone and the first sponsored by P&G. When it is fully operational, the school will house more than 1,200 students, with up to 100 teachers after the earthquake.

On the other hand, it is very important for the psychological recovery of survivors to have their dead relatives returned to them for culturally appropriate rites and disposal

Building temporary hospital

Nothing is important than lives, many and many injury people request to help and ask for medical treatment. Temporary emergency hospital set up as soon as possible to save people and operate surgery. According reliable information, golden 72 hours are human who can maintain their lives after disaster.

Hygienic arrangement

In a medical emergency of this scale, another prominent environmental and health concern is disposal of medical waste. Not all medical waste has infectious potential, but that which does needs to be handled especially cautiously. On May 13th, the newly-established Ministry of Environmental Protection released , which laid out standards for storage, transportation, and safe disposal of medical waste. Among other guidelines, the Ministry has said that medical waste should be first disinfected and then burned or buried, and that infectious waste is first priority for disposal.

Furthermore, all dead body must handle carefully, both respective and hygienic condition should be considered. Otherwise, many problems might happen.

Building residue after disaster should be clear in order to re-build provinces.

According to Jonathan Randall, a WWF Humanitarian Partnerships program officer, one of the biggest environmental issues in the immediate weeks after the earthquake is contaminated drinking water. Hazardous material spills from ruptured tanks and pipes of factories have the potential to leak into water supply. In addition, temporary water supply to some remote areas has been limited because of the difficulty of transportation.

The medium-and long-term around 12 months to 3 years strategy usually addresses broader economic development

Natural resource

Sichuan's chemicals sector could decide to relocate rather than rebuild in the earthquake-stricken areas.

Zhou Houyun, editor-in-chief of the journal Chemical Safety and Environment, says that if the government's building rules for new plants push up the costs of reconstruction and equipment installation, some firms could pull out of the region.

But according to Shi Xuesong, a petrochemical analyst at Shanghai-based China International Capital Corp, relocation may not be an option for the region's phosphorus fertilizer sector - which accounted for 7 per cent of China's total fertiliser production in 2007. Shi believes that transporting phosphorous from the numerous mines close to the earthquake's epicentre to plants further away could be prohibitively expensive.

Nuclear energy development

The earthquake has also thrown into doubt plans to develop Sichuan's nuclear industry. The province had planned to build by 2010 a 40 billion yuan (US$5.7 billion) nuclear power station in Nanchong, 200 kilometres east of the epicentre. But the move is reportedly been reconsidered by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's main planning agency.

'Geological studies to assess the risks of earthquakes must take place before deciding on whether to build a nuclear power station,' Ma Xuquan, a professor of nuclear research at Tsinghua, told Chemistry World.

Tourism development

The earthquake was centered in the Minshan-Hengduan Mountains, a key area of biodiversity conservation that is ecologically very sensitive and rich in species: 12 national first-class protected animals and 24 state-level rare and endangered plants have habitats there.

In addition, Sichuan houses the primary reserves for China's endangered icon, the giant panda. China is the only country in which pandas live in the wild. Forty-nine panda reserves suffered damage in the quake, including the Wolong Nature Reserve, which was the site of the quake's epicenter. In all, it's estimated that , though this measurement – and any panda casualties – have been difficult to verify because the area is still largely inaccessible. This is a good attractive touristy point when the place is recovered. People will spend for enjoy sightseeing and understand panda.

Agricultural export

Sichuan is a major agricultural province in China, with the highest rice yield in the nation. Agricultural products occupy an important position in the region's economy, but the agricultural system has been severely damaged and is still threatened.

The earthquake not only caused crop loss, but rock- and mudslides have caused an estimated 400,000 hectares of arable land to be permanently lost, although detailed investigation is still underway. The irrigation system has also been damaged and will need a long time to repair. In addition, agricultural land is vulnerable as reconstruction begins, since this land may be taken over by temporary settlements or repurposed for rebuilding towns.

China's rice harvest, beginning in a few months, will likely show the effects of Sichuan's depleted agricultural system, though it may be years before the earthquake's long-term consequences on agriculture are visible. It need reconstruct new crop places for planting.

Government policy discretion

As reconstruction will lift economic activities in the ensuing quarters and coupling with the re-housing needs for the victims, these would regenerate demand for properties, both commercial and residential, thus underpinning recovery of the province’s property market in the medium term. The pace of recovery will hinge on how the local government will put up measures such as tax concession to assist developers and home buyers. The huge demand for re-construction of public buildings and residential properties, coupled with the local government’s supportive measures, would present ample good opportunities for the more aggressive developers.

Choose and re-arrange right place for development

In the longer term, the quake would inevitably arouse investors’ and occupiers’ concerns on building safety and building quality apart from the location factor. There is also possibility that the central and local governments may re-zone or change the planning parameters, for instance, by imposing more stringent building height restrictions, thinning out development density, using better materials, standardizing the supervision on construction, and escalating safety requirement to minimize the loss from earthquake. In response, the developers / investors may scrutinize more stringently on site selection process in identifying their future investment opportunities.

It should be noted that for those cities located in the earthquake zones, the impacts on the property market would hinge on whether home buyers and investors would re-appraise the risk in these cities in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake. Although most of the buildings in the more developed cities claim to be able to withstand serious earthquake, this has not really been tested. Some investors at the margin would factor in this risk factor, in investing in property markets along the quake zones. The change in investors’ risk appetite may ultimately be reflected in property prices in those areas more prone to serious earthquake.

Financial Funding

Suitable fund distribution can really help disaster victims and reconstructed public utilities. Above all ways require a lot of fund to spend so it should be carefully to use because some bad elements will cheat the fund.