BUILDING PRELIMINARY GUIDELINE FOR EARTHQUAKE EVACUATION

Disaster frequency appears to be increasing. The impact of those disasters has increased substantially in terms of mortality and economic losses. Evacuation, as an inevitable part of disaster management systems, plays a critical role in disaster mitigation. The efficiency of all-hazard disaster evacuation could be increased by making appropriate decisions on policies and practices for planning, preparedness and response, and taking certain traffic operations, management and control. Common principles for large disaster evacuation have been established, mostly based on the experience of hurricane events. However, earthquakes have a series of special characteristics, which are different from other disasters, such as being hard to predict and leading to a great deal of secondary disasters. The 1994 Northridge earthquake in California and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China are chosen as examples to track and compare disaster response, including evacuation effectiveness. A primary guideline for earthquake evacuation plan is developed in this study

Non-Combat Operations of China\u27s Armed Forces in the 21st Century : Historical Development, Current Drivers and Implications for Military Projection

This thesis examines the twenty-first century non-combat activities of China\u27s armed forces as defined in a 2009 official release titled Building Non-Combat Military Operation Ability in order to understand the historical development, domestic drivers and broader implications of China\u27s contemporary non-combat missions. The paper focuses primarily on disaster relief and domestic stability maintenance, two types of operations that are ideal for examining how the internal drivers of non-combat missions are manifested in practice. Both Chinese and Western PLA analysts frequently view non-combat activities primarily as a component of China\u27s growing international military presence rather than analyzing the domestic scope and causes of these operations. Indeed, participation in international non-combat missions allows China\u27s armed forces to achieve unprecedented operational experience outside of China\u27s immediate periphery and has also helped enhance China\u27s international soft power. This thesis, however, demonstrates that People\u27s Liberation Army (PLA) and People\u27s Armed Police (PAP) twenty-first century non-combat missions are chiefly designed to achieve domestic goals. These include maintaining regime stability, balancing complex civil-military relations, and preserving the PLA\u27s image as an army serving the people amid complex internal and external national security environments. I argue that an outward-looking approach focused on the international ramifications of PLA and PAP non-combat operations is insufficient to fully understand these missions, and it can potentially distort our view of China\u27s broader military development. As vital conduits for bolstering CCP regime stability, Chinese civil-military relations and the PLA\u27s image as a people-centric force, China\u27s twenty-first century domestic non-combat operations, driven by internal security challenges arising from socioeconomic, military and historical developments in post-reform China, will likely continue to grow in importance and scope as these trends persist and intensify, thereby ensuring that the military retains a prominent role in China. As a result, twenty-first century non-combat operations have the potential to impede outward Chinese military development rather than simply expand Chinese interests abroad as more resources are needed to pursue internal security objectives

Crisis Management, Tourism and the Three Gorges Dam, China

Within the tourism literature, studies of crisis and disaster management in the tourism industry are relatively numerous. However, not only are most research case studies based on a Western-oriented paradigm, but also relatively few studies pay attention to tourists’ perceptions in relation to tourism crisis management. China has experienced numerous crises related to tourism in recent years and eventually coped with them. However, until the SARS outbreak in 2003 there tended to be a lack of subsequent research of crisis management. Following the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in 2009 and the successful completion of the 175-meter experimental water storage of Three Gorges Reservoir in 2010, the debates surrounding the major negative impacts of the dam on the Three Gorges region have become more intense. The transformation of environment has impacted on tourists’ experiences and perceptions, and even the number of inbound tourists. From a Western perspective, therefore, the Dam has become a ‘self-induced’ crisis for the Three Gorges area in general and for Three Gorges tourism. However, the Chinese government stresses that the Dam provides significant benefits to China’s economic development. The aim of this study is to identify appropriate strategies, within a conceptual framework of crisis management and tourism policy development, for rebuilding Three Gorges tourism in China following the completion of the Dam. Therefore, the research critically reviews the development of the Dam and existing tourism policies as a foundation for the principal research question: what are inbound tourists’ attitudes towards the Dam, and how might these inform strategic responses to the consequences of the Dam on the Three Gorges tourism? Subsequently at Stage One of this study, in addition to the secondary data collection related specifically to tourism in the Three Gorges, scoping research was conducted to elicit primary data regarding both tourism policy and planning for the region and an overview of tourists’ perceptions of the experience of the Three Gorges. Thus, the research at this stage involved two in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the supply-side stakeholders, namely, an expert specializing in Three Gorges tourism research and a high-level official from Chongqing Tourism Bureau, and semi-structured interviews with nine tourists from western countries visiting the Three Gorges. Having elicited the initial data and an overview of tourists’ perceptions of the Three Gorges Dam and the Three Gorges, it became evident that more detailed, rich data were required to inform an analysis of tourists’ perceptions of the Three Gorges and, hence, to underpin recommendations for future policy for Three Gorges tourism Therefore, an additional 17 semi-structured interviews with international tourists were conducted at Stage Two alongside a quantitative survey amongst international tourists who had just completed their trip in the Three Gorges region and were still on a cruise ship. In addition to these, an unstructured-interview with a senior tourist guide, as a supplementary source, was also conducted to further identify the international tourists’ perceptions of the Three Gorges and the Dam. The findings reveal that, from the perspective of Chinese government, the Three Gorges Dam is not considered as a self-induced crisis. Similarly, from the perspective of international tourists, the Dam has no yet caused any perceived tourism crisis. However, international tourists’ perceptions of environmental pollution indicate that water pollution in particular in the Three Gorges region is becoming worse. Such problem, if no controlled effectively, is likely to become a serious water pollution crisis in the future, affecting not only the life of local residents, but also the development of new Three Gorges tourism. Thus, in response to international tourists’ perceptions of the Three Gorges and the Dam, this research makes a number of recommendations for the development of new Three Gorges tourism. Overall, the purpose of this research is to establish a link between strategic responses, Faulkner’s framework of tourism crisis management and tourists’ perceptions of the destination in order to expand present tourism crisis management theory and models. In so doing, it adds an additional dimension to the contemporary crisis management and tourism in China literatures. The research also demonstrates the uniqueness of the case: although the Dam has been thought as a self-induced crisis created by humans, it differs from many crises, as the possible negative consequences brought by the Dam were predicted and predictable

Re-mediating identities in the imagined homeland: Taiwanese migrants in China

This dissertation analyzes the identity formation and transformation of Taiwanese migrants to China in light of globalization. Combining migrant studies and media studies, it explores how the identities of Taiwanese migrants are shaped and reshaped through the ongoing interactions of mediated communication and lived experience in the place of adoption. Against the linear model of assimilation, three discourses on transnationalism argue for the pluralization and deterritorialization of identities among contemporary migrants, including continuous home-country loyalty, diasporic hybrid identities, and cosmopolitan consciousness. However, this case study also encounters historical particularities, such as the opposition of Taiwanese and Chinese identities in Taiwan, Taiwanese migration to their imagined homeland, and China' authoritarian media system. While attending to these issues, I analyze the migration patterns of Taiwanese migrants, their use of the media in China, and the relations between mediation and identity. Primarily based on in-depth interviews with 68 Taiwanese migrants conducted in 2008, I found that Taiwanese migrants' spatial and upward mobility upon migration contributes to their class distinction and outsider mentality in China. Moreover, despite different settlement plans, migrants tend to see their migration as sojourning. Mental isolation from Chinese society, along with distrust of the Chinese news media, makes migrants heavily dependent on Taiwanese news media for information. They also utilize such communication tools as SMS and the Internet to forge and maintain Taiwanese-only social networks and interpersonal communications. As for entertainment media, migrants prefer foreign and Taiwanese media products to Chinese ones. Much of their transnational communication is sustained through the use of illegal means, such as satellite TV and pirated videos. Everyday experiences--lived or mediated, local or transnational--enable migrants to renegotiate their own similarities with and differences from the Chinese. A kind of Taiwanese consciousness based on pride develops among migrants. Nevertheless, as far as national identity is concerned, Taiwanese migrants remain divided, although they have also become less nationalistic and more realistic

A Balance between Ideals and Reality — Establishing and Evaluating a Resilient City Indicator System for Central Chinese Cities

Recent years have seen a gradual shift in focus of international policies from a national and regional perspective to that of cities, a shift which is closely related to the rapid urbanization of developing countries. As revealed in the 2011 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects published by the United Nations, 51% of the global population (approximately 3.6 billion people) lives in cities. The report predicts that by 2050, the world’s urban population will increase by 2.3 billion, making up 68% of the population. The growth of urbanization in the next few decades is expected to primarily come from developing countries, one third of which will be in China and India. With rapid urbanization and the ongoing growth of mega cities, cities must become increasingly resilient and intelligent to cope with numerous challenges and crises like droughts and floods arising from extreme climate, destruction brought by severe natural disasters, and aggregated social contradictions resulting from economic crises. All cities face the urban development dynamics and uncertainties arising from these problems. Under such circumstances, cities are considered the critical path from crisis to prosperity, so scholars and organizations have proposed the construction of “resilient cities.” On the one hand, this theory emphasizes cities’ defenses and buffering capacity against disasters, crises and uncertainties, as well as recovery after destruction; on the other hand, it highlights the learning capacity of urban systems, identification of opportunities amid challenges, and maintenance of development vitality. Some scholars even believe that urban resilience is a powerful supplement to sustainable development. Hence, resilience assessment has become the latest and most important perspective for evaluating the development and crisis defense capacity of cities. Rather than a general abstract concept, urban resilience is a comprehensive measurement of a city’s level of development. The dynamic development of problems is reflected through quantitative indicators and appraisal systems not only from the perspective of academic research, but also governmental policy, so as to scientifically guide development, and measure and compare cities’ development levels. Although international scholars have proposed quantitative methods for urban resilience assessment, they are however insufficiently systematic and regionally adaptive for China’s current urban development needs. On the basis of comparative study on European and North American resilient city theories, therefore, this paper puts forwards a theoretical framework for resilient city systems consistent with China’s national conditions in light of economic development pressure, natural resource depletion, pollution, and other salient development crises in China. The key factors influencing urban resilience are taken into full consideration; expert appraisal is conducted based on the Delphi Method and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to design an extensible and updatable resilient city evaluation system which is sufficiently systematic, geographically adaptable, and sustainable for China’s current urban development needs. Finally, Changsha is taken as the main case for empirical study on comprehensive evaluation of similar cities in Central China to improve the indicator system

Research on grid challenges and smart grid development: the case of Sichuan grid

As the most important driving force of modern social development and a significant symbol of modern civilization, electric power is in booming demand. Furthermore, electric power is a complex system which integrates power generation, power transmission, power distribution and power utilization together and achieves generation, transmission, distribution and utilization instantaneously at the same time. It notably features with network industry and network economy. Power grid is a hub which links electricity production and electricity consumption in the power system. On the basis of basic theories of network industry and network economy, this thesis discusses the development of smart grid from the aspects of “network challenges”, resources and energy challenges and new energy access challenges encountered and counter-measures in the development of modern grid. Based on the development environment of China power, especially the Sichuan power grid, and spatial mismatching of power supply and demand (including new energy resources and distribution), this thesis analyzes and explains China (Sichuan) smart grid is strong smart grid which has UHV power grid as the backbone frame, and features information technology, and automation.Devido ao facto de ser uma força impulsionadora do desenvolvimento económico e um simbolo muito importante da civilização moderna, a procura de electricidade tem aumentado consideravelmente nas últimas décadas. Contudo, a energia elétrica é um sistema complexo que integra geração, transmissão, distribuição e implica que a oferta e a procura sejam simultâneas. A indústria da electricidade tem muitas características da economia em rede. A rede elétrica deve ser vista como um “hub” que liga a produção de electricidade ao seu consumo. Tendo por base, as teorias da indústria em rede e da economia em rede, esta tese discute o desenvolvimento das redes elétricas segundo as perspectivas dos “desafios que se colocam às redes”, dos desafios em termos de recursos e dos desafios que se colocam ao desenvolvimento da rede elétrica moderna. Esta tese estuda de uma forma detalhada os problemas relacionados com a construção de uma rede elétrica inteligente na província de Sichuan, China

Three Essays on Understanding Social and Economic Responses to Crisis and Disaster Events

The dissertation comprises three chapters that analyze the social and economic responses to crises and disasters. In the first chapter, I have investigated whether media affects the US official foreign aid channel or crisis related aid. I have examined natural disaster citations in four mainstream US newspapers to analyze whether they influence the Official Development Assistance (ODA) or the short-term crisis related aid need of a recipient following a natural disaster. I created three new media variables to measure the strength of media effect on US ODA, humanitarian aid, and food aid. The empirical analyses indicate that media citation only affects crisis related food and humanitarian assistance. In the subsequent chapters I focus on the impacts of coastal hazards on affected communities. Every year hurricanes of different intensities make landfall in the US. The devastation and havoc of those hurricanes often have long-lasting effects on people\u27s livelihood, infrastructure, and homes. The deadliest hurricane ever recorded in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria, made landfall in 2017. In the second chapter, I investigated how the devastation of Hurricane Maria affected the housing prices in Puerto Rico. I gathered home sales data in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria from Zillow, a leading multiple listing service (MLS) platform for real estate transactions in the US. I combined the traditional hedonic price model with Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) to measure Hurricane Maria\u27s causal (treatment) effect on housing prices in Puerto Rico. In 2017, another hurricane (Hurricane Harvey) wreaked havoc in Texas. Floodwaters inundated homes in Texas and disrupted utility services. Hurricane Harvey resulted in significant economic and social consequences by disrupting public utility services such as power supply, telecommunication , and transportation. The interruption in one sector impacted the operation in other interdependent sectors. In the third chapter, I use household survey data that was collected following the event of Hurricane Harvey to analyze the performance of critical infrastructure systems and the impacts of utility disruptions in Houston, Texas. I incorporated the household survey responses into the Dynamic Inoperability Input-Output Model (DIIM) to estimate inoperability and economic losses in multiple linked sectors. This chapter also assessed the top ten inoperable (stalled) sectors in the affected area