sichuan newsletter

8/9/2019 Sichuan Newsletter

1/8

[1]

May 12. 2008April 28. 2010

WENC

HUAN&T

HESPIRIT

OFRESILIENCE

LIVINGWITHDISAST

ER


2/8

[2]

SHUIMO

April 28 Celebration

Shuimo Town:April 28. was

celebrated by the

ribbon cutting at

the Foshan Bridge.

Local people were

proud of their

achievements

RIBBON-CUTTING AT FOSHAN BRIDGE

Shortly after the massive earthquake struck Sichuan ISC (Institute for Civil

Society) issued an appeal for donations to help people in the affected areas

recover over the long term

The local leaders and the delegation of theFriends of the UN from New York visited ShuimoTown in southwest China's Sichuan Province,April 28, 2010.

Shuimo Town was hit by the earthquake on May12, 2008.

In the past two years, a construction team fromFoshan of south China's Guangdong Province

helped Shuimo Town to be more livable and nowthe town became a cultural and tourist spot.

According to provincial government data themassive earthquake claimed the lives of 5,335schoolchildren.

Over 100 NGO leaders, community leaders,government officials, and experts convened for aday of discussion and sharing of best practicesand lessons learned.


3/8

[3]

Sichuan Tragedy Sparks

Cultural Shift

In the aftermath of Sichuan's devastatingearthquake last May, which killed 69,181people and injured 374,171, individuals andcompanies from all over the world havedonated money and supplies in hugenumbers to the victims. Even moresignificant perhaps, an unprecedentednumber of individuals in China havevolunteered to help in the earthquake zoneor contributed money, as well.

In a nationwide campaign, students andeven children have been encouraged todonate portions of what little they mighthave to earthquake relief in what appears toreflect shifting public attitudes towardcharitable giving.

Li Kike, a 21-year-old student at Shanghai'sDonghua University, thinks the late springsnowstorms that snarled nationwide travel

and transport earlier in the year, combinedwith protests abroad over the progress ofthe Olympic torch, and most lately theSichuan earthquake, have helped changedhow China's youth feel and how olderChinese feel about them.

"This generation is very unique," Li said. "Wedon't have very hard times in politics orlifestyle. Now we are just being more andmore supportive to our country and we reallywant to help people who were in theearthquake."

Li recalled reading an online message boaor what is referred to in China as a BBS, owhich some called his generation the "ruingeneration." But the earthquake, he said,gave older Chinese a chance to reconsidethe role of Chinese youth in society: "Ourreactions and responsibilities changedpeople's minds - they reconsidered ourstrength."

In recent years, older Chinese have

characterized the the countrys youth as thMe Generation, one that, according to a2007 story in Time magazine, ischaracterized by its "self-interested,apolitical pragmatism."

Yet the "Me Generations' generous responto aiding earthquake victims may be thestart of something new. One recent posteon the China Dailys BBS asserted herwillingness to donate to the earthquakevictims despite describing herself as "a pocollege student." "I donate[d] severalhundred yuan to the earthquake," she said"It is tiny, but we have 1.3 billion [people] lme. The Chinese are unconquerable."

It may be too early to say whether or notthere will be a major rise in the willingnessChinese citizens across the board to makedonations and volunteer on a long-termbasis. But if the reaction to the earthquakeany indication, a more long-lasting changecould be on the way. http://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuatragedy-sparks-cultural-shift

SHUIMO

The new School is a pride of the local people
http://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://www.chinaonthebrink.com/content/sichuan-tragedy-sparks-cultural-shifthttp://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?gid=2&tid=603471&extra=&page=6http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?gid=2&tid=603471&extra=&page=6http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647228,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647228,00.html


4/8

[4]

New Babies Bring the Hope two

Years after Sichuan Earthquake

Wednesday will be the second anniversaryof the magnitude-8.0 quake that hitsouthwest China's Sichuan Province onMay 12, 2008, and left more than 87,000people dead or missing.

The massive earthquake claimed the livesof 5,335 schoolchildren, according toprovincial government data.

Bereaved mothers received freereproductive services, including counseling,health checks and delivery services,according to the Sichuan provincialpopulation and family planning commission.

Even after two years of healing, one cannotsay the quake's survivors have recoveredtheir lives, as many are yet to move intonew homes and there are still problems tobe solved.

But for thousands of couples who lost theirchildren, the joy of each birth tempered thepain of their loss.

By the end of April, 2,087 bereavedmothers had given birth to a new baby andanother 467 were expecting.

Still, things are not good for everyone. Alarge number of the bereaved mothers areolder than 35 years, making conception amore difficult task.

In Dujiangyan, a city 48 kilometers west ofprovincial capital Chengdu hit hard by thequake, "about 85 percent of the bereavedmothers who wanted to have a new babywere older than 35 years, and 65 percent ofthem were older than 40," said Chen Zhixi,vice director of city's family planningbureau.

The local government provided freeassisted-reproduction technologies to helpthese women get pregnant.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/10/c_13285839.htm

LIFE IS BACK AFTER TWO YEARS
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/10/c_13285839.htmhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/10/c_13285839.htmhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/10/c_13285839.htmhttp://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/10/c_13285839.htm


5/8

[5]

Friends of the UN: PerspectivesNanning, the capital city of Guangxi Province, is not only the

political, economic and cultural center of the province, but alsoplays an important role in the economic development of southwestChina. Nanning borders Vietnam, is neighbor to Guangzhou, closeto Hong Kong and Macau, and faces Southeast Asia. Thisadvantageous location makes the city a commercial andcommunication center, opening China to Southeast Asia.Pleasant climate endows the city with evergreen trees and fragrantflowers all year round, hence the name 'Green City.' In such abeautiful land, more than 30 ethnic minority groups have beenliving harmoniously for 1,680 years.

As the linking point of the tour route from Guilin to Beihai, Nanninghas a lot of attractions to offer: grand De Tian Waterfall, beautifulMt. Qingxiu and Mt. Daming, quiet Yangmei Ancient Town,

mysterious Huashan Mural as well as scattered parks angardens.

Nanning is a modern city. Accommodation and shopping adiverse and well developed for visitors. Hotels and hostels different standards can meet various needs. In the citycommercial center, supermarkets, department stores, speciacommodity streets, bookstores and other retail markets offer variety of merchandise. When night falls, colorful street lamps the city. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangxi/nanning/

The leaders of Nannign city were proud to introduce Dr. Browand Ms. Grigolia to the Smart City Development Program. FOUwas impressed with their Port development efforts and suggestethat this would be an ideal location for a Coastal Citys Summit.

Dr. Noel Brown

presented to the Party

Secretary the book:Water

& Human Settlements in the

21st Century(Global Forum

on Human Settlements 2009)

MEETING WITH THE PARTY

SECRETARY OF QINZHOU CITY

Qinzhou Leaders introduced FOUN Delegation to their Smart Future Construction Plans of the City;

Miss Xiao, the Mayor of the City was a gracious hostess
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangxi/nanning/http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangxi/nanning/


6/8

[6]

Resilience in the Time of Disaster

It is a special pleasure to be here thisafternoon - - to be in a city, blessed bynature and rich in culture, art and cuisine,but which unlike some other cities such asBeijing and Shanghai, is perhaps bestknown to the world through a tragedy.

This is a city however which also presentsanother face of China, one that has

recovered from one of the worlds worstnatural disaster in recent times and whichholds many lessons of interest tointernational community on how to build itbetter.

In many respects this should not besurprising for even a remote city since it ispart of China, a country which clearlyknows how to build - - having built thegreat wall, one of the few man madestructures visible from the space.

In order to more fully appreciate the

miracle of restoration and reconstruction,however, one needs first to comprehend thescale of the disaster, as well as arrange ofsound policy initiatives which were firmlygrounded in the spirit of resilience of thepeople of Wenchuan.

By now the grim statistics are well known tothe world. On 12 May 2008 - - a mere 2years ago, an 8 magnitude earthquake hitthe city of Wenchuan leaving 69,197confirmed dead, including 68,636 in

Sichuan province, and 374,176 injured, with18,222 listed as missing.

The earthquake left about 4.8million peoplehomeless, though the number could be ashigh as 11 million, a significant numbersince an estimated 15 million people lived inthe affected area.

It was the deadliest earthquake to hit Chinasince the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, whichkilled at least 240,000people, and the 21stdeadliest earthquake of all time.

Thanks to the electronic media, with instantcommunication, which increasingly uniteshumanity, especially in moments of sharedsorrow, the world joined in grieving as thecity morned its dead and calculate its loss.

Today, hopefully the world will also join thecity in celebrating its recovery and there ismuch to celebrate. Wenchuan has becomea beacon of hope and a dramatic exampleof humanitys problem solving genius andcreative ingenuity in both design and

engineering skills.It also provides a beacon of hope for othercases of natural disasters, which areoccurring all too frequently and withincreasing intensity.

On April 14, 2010, for example, Chinaexperienced another earthquake, this time acity of Kyushu and registered 7.1 killing2,183 people and injuring 12,135 many ofwhom are severely injured.

But China is not alone.

Across the world for example, in anothhemisphere and another continent Haiti oof the worlds poorest countries in t

Americas experienced an earthquake withdevastation that tested the worldresponse capabilities and led the UnitNations to concede that this was one of tworst disasters that the world organizatihas had to confront.

And here the statistics well known:

On 12 January 2010, a catastrophmagnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake hit an arwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capitkilling an estimated 230,000 people, injuri300,000 and rendering more than a milliohomeless. It was also estimated th250,000 residences and 30,000 commercbuildings had collapsed or were severedamaged effecting more than three millipeople.

Once again, the world responded bourgently and generously to appeals f

humanitarian aid pledging some 9 billidollars to help the restoration efforts, adispatching rescue and medical teamengineers and support personnel.

These efforts were seriously handicah o w e v e r , n o t o n l y b e c a u s e t hcommunication and transportation systemwhich were already in poor conditions hacollapsed, but also because of pogovernance and confusion over who wactually in charge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_buildinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Princehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_buildinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_buildinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_buildinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_buildinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_areahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_areahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Princehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Princehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scalehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deadliest_natural_disasters#Earthquakeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquake


7/8

[7]

Without strong leadership and clearlydefined authority at the managementcenter the recovery efforts are likely to beineffectual with the process of recoveryslowly.

This in turn raises a number of questionswhen compared to the post-disasterresponse when compared to Wenchuan.For example it would be unreasonable to

ask:- - What will Haiti be like in two years?

- - Will it as in the case of Wenchuan build it better?-

- - Will the lessons of Wenchuan beapplicable?

- - And can Chinas experience inWenchuan be utilized Haiti?

- - Is there room for a new kind ofpar t ners h ip be tw een Ha i t i andWenchuan in disaster, preparedness,

and the management of vulnerability?These are the questions which we hope willbe explored during our meeting today.

In the meantime and in attempting toassess the lessons to be leaned one mustfirst recognize that the restoration processin Wenchuan was not a matter of luck ofchance, but grounded in well testedscientific principles generated by acoherent philosophy of restoration andrecovery.

This was clearly in evidence in the positionadopted by the Chinese authority whichmaintained that by adhering to theprinciple of people-orientation, respect fornature, overall planing, and scientificreconstruction, the Chinese Governmentenacted a scientific plan to guide its PostDisaster efforts, and by establishing a PostDisaster one- on-one aid mechanism led bythe Chinese People, the city was able toconduct wel l-planned, large-scale,re c ons t ruc t i on Ca mpa i gn , wh i c hcontributed to the dramatic success of theprocess.

Moreover th is basic phi losophica l

framework gave momentum to thereconstruction process and brought intoplay a number of key element including:

1. A firm commitment at the highestlevels, which signaled to al lconcerned, the importance attachedto the reconstruction effort.

2. Leadership, the deployment of themost competent managers and

relevant skills greatly enhanced theprospect of meeting deadlines in atimely fashion.

3. Availability of the necessaryresources, both human andfinancial at the required scale. OnNovember the 6th 2008 for examplethe central government committed 1trillion (YUAN )about ($146 Billion) to

rebuild areas ravaged by the earthquake.

4. Community involvement - - whichencouraged the strong support andpart icipation both from localcommunities and the Chinesecommunity at large.

5. One-on-one rebuilding systemreflecting a unique characteristics ofthe social structure whereby thedeveloped area cities and thedisaster area would collaborate inreconstruction process.

No doubt, effort should be made to decodethe secret and to learn of the magicformula, which must have been employed.This naturally will occupy students of postdisaster management and reconstructionfor sometime.

In the meantime Ladies and Gentlemen, letme conclude by suggesting five wayswhich the world might wish to consider indealing with the growing roster of naturaldisasters and mitigating their impacts:

1. C r e a t i n g a c u l t u r e o f

preparedness.

The challenge here is not simply theaccuracy of early warning systems or thereliability of all monitoring devices, but theextant to which the population at large havebeen trained to read and heed the warningsin a timely fashion. Few societies can claimthat they have mastered this process.

Cuba for example, thanks to the experienceof a number of deadly Hurricanes has awell advanced preparedness system, butfew other Caribbean states can make thisclaim. Naturally building the culture of

preparedness is not an easy task but onewhich remains essential to the protection ofdisaster prone societies.

2. Establishment of safe spaces.

There comes a point in most disasterswhere large number of people have to beevacuated. This not only requires wellp l a n e d m o d e s a n d r o o t s f o rtransportations, but also the existence of

safe spaces where people may be securThis two remains a challenge.

3. The creation of disaster Depots.

Where supplies including water, buildinmaterials, medicines, emergency powsupplies may be stored in order to breadily available to assist threatenepopulation.

4. Vu l ne ra bi li ty m a na ge me ntraining.

In view of inevitable recurrence of naturand man made disasters it would seedesirable to establish centers anprograms for vulnerability managemetraining, where the necessary skills woube available to deal with the range of issuein a sensitive and orderly manner.

For example in many instances pat rescuduring disasters presents a major probleas often critical choices have to be madas to who gets priorities. Yet in som

instances pats seem vital to the well beinof those to be rescued and there is mucsorrow in leaving them behind.

Much pre planning has to be devoted tthese and other sensitive matterHopefully the experience gained over thyears could be organized in a way thwould give more society the toonecessary to address these issues.

5. C loser col laborat ion with th

United Nations

International Strategy for Disaste

Reduction (ISDR) which could become aeffective partner in pre disaster planing.

At the same time the City of Wenchugiven its successful experience aninnovative and pioneering leadership Post Disaster Reconstruction might givconsideration to the establishment ofCenter for Disaster Mitigation an

Vulnerability Management Training.

This would be a fitting legacy to the miracof Wenchuan and an opportunity to shathat legacy with a disaster prone world.

Thank you.

Dr. Noel Brown(Dujiangyan city, TheBest Practice of Reconstruction Award

Ceremony


8/8

Global Forum on

Human Settlements

(GFHS)

The Global Forum on Human Settlementswas established in 2005 in Shenzhen, awindow of Chinas Reform and OpeningUp, jointly initiated by the OrganizationCommittee of China City Construction &Development Expo(CCDE),China ResearchSociety of UrbanDevelopment,Communication CoordinatingCommittee for the United Nation (CCC/UN)and United Nations Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)Theforum has been consecutively andsuccessfully held for 5 times.

Our Mission :

Building Sustainable Human Settlements

and Promoting the UN Habitat Agenda

Our Purpose:

To support and participate with relatedprograms of UNto educate the general

public on the efforts of the UnitedNations and its member countriesin improving the ecologicalenvironment and humansettlements in various parts of theworld, to promote United NationsHabitat Agenda and the ecologicalcivilization and to help the poorand suffering achieve a betterquality of life, to promote the world

harmony and sustainabledevelopment.

As an open organization, GFHSwelcomes officials, scholars andprofessionals participating andcooperating to build a green andharmonious future.

Friends of the UN is a partner withGFHS and is working actively topromote their mission and toenhance its support for the work of

the United Nations and especiallywith the Habitat and HumanSettlements Program.

Mr. Lu Haifeng - Executive & Chief Editor UNHABITAT WOrld Best Practices Magazine(Asia/Pacific edition)

Mr. Lu is committed to the exchange andcooperation in the sector of cityconstruction, environment protection andhuman settlements. His aim is to build aglobal platform for Human Settlementsexchange and sustainable development.

FRIENDS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

866 UN PlazaRoom #544

NYC NY 10017

Tel: 212 355 4192

E-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]

www.FOTUN.org
http://www.fotun.org/http://www.fotun.org/mailto:[email protected]://www.fotun.org/http://www.fotun.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

sichuan newsletter

Documents