The Impact of Wenchuan Earthquake Towards China’s National Security
Aziz Al A’raaf Syed Azizul1, Noraini Zulkifli1*
1 Department of International Relations, Security and Law, Faculty of Defense Studies and Management, Sungai Besi Camp, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 January 2023 | Published: 31 January 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajlg.2022.4.4.5
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Abstract: This research studies the impact of Wenchuan earthquake towards China’s national security. The research focuses on how the major disaster that struck Wenchuan in 2008 could possibly led to multiple series of issues regarding China’s national security. This research has three objectives. The first objective is to study the Wenchuan earthquake. Secondly, the impact of the earthquake towards China’s national security. Thirdly to research China’s government and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)’s action for the recovery of China from the Wenchuan earthquake. The concept of national security is applied in this research to analyze China’s vulnerability from threats that may come during that time. This research uses a qualitative technique that is based on secondary data references from credible sources, both printed and online. This research findings that the Wenchuan earthquake had brung major catastrophe to China by causing mass death and injuries to people other than destroying the facilities and household properties. Sichuan province which were also one of the agricultural site for grain and pig supply had affect China’s national trading and also depleting the country’s food supply. This research concludes that the Wenchuan earthquake had caused huge impact to the nation’s national security. Disaster management are one of the main aspects that need to be taken seriously because without full preparation, a country might cannot recover at all from any incoming threats that can give huge impact towards it’s national security.
Keywords: China, NGO, national security, Sichuan province, Wenchuan earthquake
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1. Introduction
The May 12, 2008, earthquake that devastated Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China.
The magnitude of the earthquake was 8.0. Beijing, the nation's capital, in the north, and Shanghai, the country's largest metropolis, in the east, both suffered the effects, as did more than half of the rest of China. Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Hubei were among the seven provinces or municipalities that were completely devastated (Yeung, 2022).
According to Map 1.1, it is clear that Yingxiu Town, situated some 75 kilometres west of Chengdu City, was the epicentre of the Wenchuan Earthquake. The main earthquake zone was located along the Longmenshan Fault, which spanned 300 kilometres from the western margin of the Sichuan Basin to the northeast. The earthquake had a major impact on thirteen counties in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi. Thousands of people were injured or killed as a result of the magnitude 8 Wenchuan earthquake. As a result of the earthquake, 69,227 individuals lost their lives, 17,923 are still missing, and 374,542 were injured (Wu et.al., 2008).
According to Table 1.1, a total of 1878 patient records from the People's Hospital in Deyang City were examined. The gender distribution table in Table 1.1 a) shows that 50.1% of the population was female and 49.8% were male. With a frequency of 941, this demonstrates that females made up the majority of the earthquake victims. Table 1.1 b) depicts the general occupational status of the wounded patients and reveals that 54.3% of them were farmers, while
Map 1.1: Location of the Wenchuan earthquake and the aftershocks Source: China Seismiic Monitoring Network (2009)
Table 1.1. a,b,c: Data records of patients admitted to People’s hospital of Deyang Source: People’s hospital of Deyang (2010)
21.9% were officers, 12.9% were students, 0.9% were workers, and 10.0% were employed in other occupations. As the bulk of the victims were farmers, this demonstrates how the Wenchuan earthquake affected citizens in Deyang city's agricultural sector. The data indicates that the least number of casualties are those who are employed as workers. This demonstrates that the earthquake had less of an impact on city workers in Deyang, indicating that the earthquake site caused more fatalities among those living close to agricultural areas.
Based on table 1.1 c), this demonstrates that 7.3% of the victims had scalp contusions, 5.6%
had numerous soft tissue contusions, 3.2% of victims had a fractured lumbar vertebra, 4.2% of victims had multiple fractured ribs. 2.2% of victims experienced Table 1.1. a,b,c,d. Data records of patients admitted to People’s hospital of Deyang Source: People’s hospital of Deyang (2010) a) b) ) c) 28 thoracic contusions. 1.7% of victims had a pelvic fracture that was not immediately apparent, 2.2% of victims had an intracranial injury, 1.2% of victims had multiple soft tissue abrasions, 1.6% of the patients suffered thoracic vertebral fractures. Tibia and fibula fractures occurred in 1.5% of cases. 1.3% of sufferers had a hematoma on their scalp, 1.3% had an open head bite, 1.2% of the victims experienced intra-abdominal organ damage, 1.1% of the patients had a left femur shaft fracture, while 1.0% of the victims had subdural hematomas (traumatic), 1.0% of victims suffered crushed lumbar vertebral fractures. 0.9% of the victims had their chests crushed, 0.8% had concussions, 0.8% had crushing injuries to their abdomens, 0.8% had open wounds in their lower legs, 0.7% had fractures in their right tibia and fibula, 0.7% had fractures in their left femur shaft, and 0.7% had fractures in their right femur shaft.
Rock avalanches are defined as enormous landslides that move at great speeds for long distances. This landslide undergoes a dynamic fragmentation process during travel, changing into a swift granular flow (Gao, 2020). Because of the magnitude of the Wenchuan earthquake, numerous rock avalanches were triggered, providing an abundance of geological information for the study of rock avalanche kinemat. In order to better understand the mechanical behaviour of rock avalanches during their rapid travel, researchers from Southwest Jiaotong University conducted an extensive field investigation of many rock avalanches generated by the Wenchuan earthquake. This was done to learn more about how the Wenchuan earthquake contributed to these landslides. According to the research conducted by Southwest Jiaotong University, a clear facies succession can be seen along the rock avalanche sliding channels.
The airblast zone, the jumping and bouncing zone, the sliding and deposit zone, the descending journey zone, and the primary accumulation zone are the several zones that are discussed. The zones are arranged progressively more restrictive as people move downward. A rock avalanche can produce a devastating air blast. It can hurl rocks and wood splinters into the air, splatter mud up trees, and embed rock fragments in the bark of trees; it can levitate people or vehicles as high as the autumn wind whips leaves, it can push them out more than 1 kilometre and can rip the roofs off of houses or buildings and it can uproot and break off trees and it can scour soil and colluvium.
Large earthquakes have the potential to cause immense damage to human society as a result of ground shaking, fault rupture, liquefaction, and tsunamis, as well as coseismic landslides that can be generated in mountainous regions. Several catastrophic debris flows occurred in the years that followed the Wenchuan earthquake, showing many of the concerns that are connected with post-seismic landslides. The three major debris flows that occurred on July 10, 2013, and caused devastation to the community of Qipangou are examples of big debris flows.
One of the debris flows was responsible for the destruction of a piece of the town of Beichuan on September 24, 2008, on August 13, 2010, another debris flow choked the Min River; and
on July 10, 2013, still another debris flow caused damage to the village of Qipangou (LibreTexts, 2022). The Longmenshan Mountains are a mountain range situated between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. The Tibetan Plateau, often known as the Roof of the World, was formed as a result of the continued subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate at a pace of 40 mm/year. The plateau's internal components expanded to the east and north, causing the crust to expand in both directions (Ye et.al, 2018). The local nappe thrust tectonic belts and adjacent foreland basins are the result of the stiff Sichuan basin blocking the eastward extrusion of plateau materials along the eastern limit of the plateau. The Longmen thrust fault is the typical example, as it is the fault that separates the Bayankala block and the Yangtze block. Proterozoic basement rocks, a Paleozoic passive margin rock sequence, Mesozoic foreland basin rocks, and Cenozoic sediments make up the regional lithology of the Longmen Mountain area (Burchfiel, 1995). As the Tibetan Plateau pushes up above the Sichuan Basin, the three faults merge to form a single shear belt, the fundamental governing structure of the uplift causing earthquake to have high impact on the output of damage toward Wenchuan province.
The Wenchuan earthquake caused damage to facilities utilised by civilians. It is believed that more than 5 million structures fell and 21 million were damaged as a result of the earthquake.
Severe damage or collapse typically affected buildings constructed prior to the introduction of the revised Chinese seismic code GBJ11-89, which was established in 1989, as a result of poor construction decisions, such as the use of masonry instead of reinforced concrete (US Geological Survey, 2008). As Sichuan Province is home to a substantial amount of China's chemical output, industrial facilities were also impacted by the earthquake (Briney, 2020). Due to the presence of phosphate rock in the region, Shifang, Deyang, and Mianyang are home to a large number of fertiliser-producing businesses. There is minimal information on 33 the effects of the Wenchuan earthquake on industry, as this aspect is overshadowed by the disaster's sad human toll. Concerns exist, however, regarding earthquake-caused destruction and damage to industrial facilities holding or processing hazardous substances, as well as the possible implications of their release on humans and the environment.
In one entirely wrecked business, 75 people were murdered when structures fell as a result of the earthquake, despite the fact that the majority of facilities sustained only damage and in some cases injuries. In the less severely damaged establishments surveyed, damage to structures and equipment resulted in a six-month plant shutdown and business interruption for repair and reconstruction. If the necessary financial means for rehabilitation are available, rebuilding times for plants that were destroyed by the tragedy could take several years. Some businesses have chosen to relocate manufacturing and rebuild outside of the fault zone. The European commission found evidence of structural damage to buildings in one of the older sites. These structures included those with thick roofs and thin columns, both of which could have weakened the buildings. Falling rubble from buildings and other structures that collapsed during the tragedy was the primary cause of damage to and loss of equipment
2. The Impact Of Wenchuan Earthquake Towards China’s National Security
i. Impact of Wenchuan earthquake towards psychological security
The minds of the average Chinese citizen were shaken by the devastating Wenchuan earthquake. The incidence of severe psychiatric symptoms such stress, anxiety, sadness, somatic problems, and nightmares has been reported to rise after catastrophic events (Tan et.al, 2009). Cultural, social, economic, and political factors have all been shown to significantly affect how individuals react to natural disasters. The cultural differences have been utilised to
study how people cope with dramatic and unlikely events. Nonetheless, it has also been documented that the presence of more resources and, in particular, the availability of developed social support systems may help survivors of earthquakes in developed countries experience less psychological distress than survivors of earthquakes in less developed countries (Wu, 2014). In spite of China's advanced infrastructure, the people of Wenchuan are feeling the effects. Among the civilian population, anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD) are extremely common. In spite of China's advanced infrastructure, the people of Wenchuan are feeling the effects. Among the civilian population, anxiety, depression, and PTSD are extremely common. Most of the civilians lost their family and many of them died tragically in front of them. The earthquake claimed the lives of 246, including a pair of couple’s daughter which is Ye and Zhu's (Yuan, 2021). It is devastating for the parents to see their children to end their life in rubbles and it had been 13 years since they lost their daughter. These disheartening sights had caused many of the civilians to have trauma. The massive earthquake that took down huge population of the citizens sure caused a lot on their mental health. Family loss sure caused severe damage to the psychology of the survivors of the earthquake.
The results of a psychological exam administered by BMC Psychiatry to Wenchuan earthquake victims in earthquake-stricken areas in the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi are depicted in Table 1.2. These victims were located in both of these provinces. Dujiangyan, Pengzhou, Chongzhou, Shifang, Mianzhu, Jiangyou, Anxian, Pingwu, Beichuan, Jiange, Qingchuan, Hanyuan, Wenchuan, Lixian, Maoxian, Songpan, Heishui, and Xiaojin were the eighteen counties that were chosen by BMC Psychiatry in Sichuan Province. In Shaanxi Province, Lue The majority of the people who were polled were chosen because they had direct experience with earthquakes, such as being able to feel the shaking caused by the quake or seeing the damage it caused. Their research is carried out in order to identify the psychological effects that the earthquake had on its victims, specifically Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Self- rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS).
According to the gender line, it appears that females have a higher mean score than males, which comes in at 44.40 and is significantly higher than the male score of 40.62. The situation is the same with the SDS, which has a mean score of 41.25 and a mean score of 40.50 for males. The same pattern is shown in the PTSD mean score when looking at females, who have a mean score of 41.62, compared to males, who have a mean score of 39.64. This demonstrates that females have a greater risk of being Table 3.2. Table Of Psychology Test Sichuan, Shaanxi
Table 1.2: Table Of Psychology Test Sichuan, Shaanxi Source: BMC Psychiatry (2014)
Source: BMC Psychiatry (2014) 39 afflicted by the psychiatric disease than males do. While looking at the age line, we see that victims between the ages of 51 and 68 have the highest mean score, which is 44.07, indicating that they are more prone to suffer from anxiety.
According to the SDS column, victims between the ages of 41 and 50 have a higher likelihood of suffering from depression since they have the highest mean score, which is 41.03. When looking at the PTSD column, it can be seen that victims between the ages of 51 and 68 had the highest mean score, which is 41.05. This demonstrates that older persons have a greater risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. With these results proves that more elderly and female are more likely to get psychology disorder.
ii. Impact of Wenchuan earthquake towards economy security
The economic impact of the Wenchuan earthquake on China was significant. This is because of the efforts to rebuild and design in preparation for disaster risk reduction measures. For the most part, these estimations simply account for direct losses, whereas some only examine direct and indirect economic losses. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was the most catastrophic in history, causing about 140 billion dollars in damage (Shi, 2008). The earthquake also harmed factories in Sichuan Province, which houses a sizable amount of China's chemical output.
Significant damage to critical sectors, financial constraints on rehabilitation, insecure investment following the earthquake, and limited reconstruction capacity all played a role in these losses. China is well-established economically, but when a severe calamity happened, they had to hide a huge number of people who had been harmed by an earthquake.
Based on table 1.3. shows the distributed direct economic losses from the Wenchuan earthquake to the Sinchuan province by Adaptive Regional Input-Output (ARIO) model, which shows alterations in production capacity, economic system-wide repercussions, and adaptive actions on the part of economic actors are all indicators that disasters can have an impact on the economy. This shows that household sectors such as housing, properties, cars, furnitures had the most direct economic losses with 300 billion Chinese Yuan (CNY) loss. China’s economy are affected because many of the property buyers doesn’t want to buy or invest
Table 1.3: Distributed direct economic losses by ARIO sectors
Source: Environment Earth Science (2012)
properties that are landmarked on disaster sites. Even if the house pricing dropped, they don’t want to buy the property as the place have risk to their safety. This leads to drop of investor on China properties thus making the household sector to have the most direct economic loss.
Looking at the manufacturing sector which have the direct economic loss of 82.35 billion CNY, occur due to low product export. Manufacturing of foods, equipments, machinery are affected mainly because most of the factories were destroyed along with the earthquake. As the factories for manufacturing need to be closed, product export need to be in halt thus disrupt the economic exchange of China with other countries.
ii. a) China’s action to recover from economic instability
After the Wenchuan earthquake, which had a major effect on China's national security, the central government announced post-disaster rescue plans. These measures can speed up capital investment and infrastructure upgrades in the affected areas (World Bank Blogs, 2012). These rules for rebuilding after a disaster also encourage replacing outdated machinery and updating other infrastructure used in the damaged companies. Disaster relief initiatives actually help stimulate economic growth depends on the soundness of the projects funded and the wise application of aid funds. External aid will not only fail to stimulate economic growth in the absence of a mechanism to rein it in, but it will also raise nonproductive spending, decrease actual investment in public goods, amplify government corruption, and weaken incentive structures. Looking at the local recovery strategies developed after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. His idea to improve local disaster recovery planning involves four distinct steps.
As a first step, work must be done to incorporate a sustainable future into the plan's aims and goals. Officials' promotions should take into account whether or not environmental aims and goals are met. Visions should be translated into goals spanning various areas of sustainability, and these goals should be incorporated into a formalised policy framework. These targets ought to be practical, too. In order to accomplish the vision of guaranteeing a sustainable future for its citizens, one goal may be to lessen secondary flood dangers, with the objective of reducing peak runoff volume. The peak runoff volume would need to be decreased for this to happen. It is important to promote these policy frameworks to other government agencies so that they can more efficiently implement the policy action items for which they are accountable. Second, local and provincial planning departments in disaster-prone areas have redundant copies of essential data. Basic ecological, geological, and socioeconomic facts should be communicated locally by government entities. Finally, early use of planning methodologies such as hazard exposure evaluations, ecological impact analysis, and ecological carrying capacity assessments is recommended to ensure that sustainability considerations are taken into account. When it comes to urban planning in China, the central government may grab the reins and create sustainable strategies and policies. Last but not least, interagency cooperation is a key technique for minimising the fragmentation of the current federal system. There are a number of local government organisations in China that are either responsible for or involved in sustainabilityrelated work, including the Development and Reform Commission, the Department of Environment Protection, the Department of Land Resources and Planning, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Forestry and Agriculture, and the Department of Transportation. Because sustainability affects themes managed by such a wide range of agencies, promoting sustainability requires the development of an interagency cooperation structure. In sum, the policies of the State Council for the post-earthquake reconstruction were found to be marked by a commitment to sustainability. In situations when more time and thought are available, Chinese planning strategies may be more capable of achieving sustainability.
iii. Impact of Wenchuan earthquake towards food security
There is little uncertainty that the food supply for the devastated inhabitants of Wenchuan was significantly impacted by the earthquake. Yields in agriculture and livestock production are also diminished. The death toll in the six worst-affected countries was estimated at 365.75 million pigs. There will be a decline in the number of commercial pigs off-taken to the tune of 550 million hectares, and the amount of food crops harmed is estimated at around 27 million hectares (Deng, 2009). The Wenchuan earthquake undoubtedly impacted agricultural productivity negatively. Grain production and livestock breeding have been significantly impacted, especially in the most hit areas.
Based on table 1.4. that shows the immediate impact of Wenchuan Earthquake on grain and pork products shows which means that the Wenchuan Earthquake had minimal effects on national grain prices and pork production. National grain prices fluctuate by no more than 0.5%
over any time period, be it short, medium, or long. We can extrapolate a 0.006% drop in national aggregate grain yield and a 0.02% increase in national grain price from the data we have on agricultural production losses and from the results of our model. As a result of the Wenchuan Earthquake, local crop yields will drop by 30 percent over the medium to long term, which is the same as a drop of 0.45 percent in national aggregate grain output. That means an increase in the national grain price of only 0.51 percent. As a result, the Wenchuan Earthquake resulted in a temporary drop in pork prices. In either the near- or far-term future, the price of pork will fluctuate by no more than 2.2%. In either the near- or far-term future, the price of pork will fluctuate by no more than 2.2%. Because of the earthquake in Sichuan, the price of pork products has increased by 0.25 percentage points because national aggregate pork production has fallen by 0.15 percentage points. The price of pork products would rise as the number of available live pigs in the hardest-hit areas decreased, but this would spur an increase in production of pork products in other locations and eventually slow the price increase. In the
Table 1.4: Immediate impact of Wenchuan Earthquake on grain and pork products Source: Xiangzheng (2009)
medium and long run, a drop of 75% in the live pig supply in the worsthit regions will only result on a reduction of pork products in the national market of 2.2%, and a commensurate increase in the price of national pork products of 2.0%.
3. China And Ngos’ Action To Overcome The Impact Of Wenchuan Earthquake Towards China’s National Security
i. China’s government policies to recover from Wenchuan earthquake
After the Wenchuan earthquake, the Chinese government established administrative procedures to oversee the rebuilding effort. Central authorities are in charge. The State Council houses agencies like the National Disaster Reduction Committee, the State Earthquake Control and Rescue Headquarters, and the National Disaster Control and Relief Coordination Office, all of which seek to prevent, respond to, and recover from disasters. Municipal governments often establish similar coordination offices to deal with catastrophe prevention, response, and cleanup. During times of crisis, task forces made up of members of the People's Liberation Army, the armed police, militia reservists, and police officers are frequently deployed. The rehabilitation effort can be better organised and the primary goals can be maintained if tasks are separated in this way. The recovery effort will be more efficient and effective if it is well- planned and executed.
Based on table 1.5. shows a number of laws and regulations that were enacted to provide a framework for emergency management and assure the system's functionality in times of crisis.
The laws and regulations that govern disaster prevention, response, and cleanup are also
Table 1.5: Laws, regulations, and plans of natural disaster reduction, relief, and recovery of Wenchuan earthquake
Source : Huang (2011)
included in this diagram. The State Council has published plans on catastrophe prevention, response, and cleanup in addition to laws and regulations. National strategies for sustainable development often include provisions for catastrophe preparedness, response, and rebuilding.
The Law of the People's Republic of China for Protection Against and Mitigation of Earthquake Disasters is a piece of legislation presented by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The goal of this law is to prevent and lessen the effects of earthquake disasters on people and their property. The purpose of the PRC's Flood Control Law is to ensure that citizens' lives and property are protected, that disasters caused by flooding and waterlogging are mitigated, that infrastructure development for socialist modernization can go without interruption, and that floods are contained.
The primary goals of the PRC's Meteorology Law are the improvement of meteorological services, the standardization of meteorological activities, the timely and accurate issuance of meteorological forecasts, the avoidance of meteorological disasters, the efficient exploitation and protection of climatic resources, and the provision of meteorological services in support of national security, social progress, and individual well-being. The prevention and control of infectious diseases, including during epidemics, are governed by the Law of PRC on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases. The purpose of the PRC's Fire Control Law is to ensure a safe fire control environment, safeguard fire control infrastructure, forestall fire disasters, 49 and ensure timely alarm reporting. Participation in organised fire fighting work is mandatory for all units and adults.
The state council's proposed regulations for maintaining social harmony include mechanisms for resolving any issues that may emerge within the group. The state council has established a number of regulations, one of which is the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Geological Disasters, which were created to do just that: prevent and control geological disasters, avoid and mitigate losses due to geological disasters, protect people's lives and property, and advance long-term economic and social progress. In addition, the Regulations on Handling Major Animal Epidemic Emergencies established a series of measures including improving immunity and epidemic monitoring, setting up an animal labelling system, and developing a system for tracking the spread of an epidemic to guarantee effective control over the country's major animal epidemics. To restore normal life, production, study, and working conditions in disaster-stricken areas and to promote economic and social Recovery and development, regulations were put in place to ensure the effective and orderly development of recovery and reconstruction efforts following the Wenchuan earthquake. The Disaster Reduction Plan of PRC was one of the programmes implemented by the Chinese state council after the Wenchuan earthquake, with the goal of establishing a fully functional system and operational mechanisms for disaster prevention and mitigation. This has the potential to greatly improve monitoring, early warning, prevention, preparedness, emergency response, relief, rehabilitation, and rebuilding efforts in the wake of natural disasters, as well as to significantly raise public awareness of disaster reduction and emergency rescue skills, thereby reducing fatalities and economic losses.
ii. NGO’s and other countries participation in Wenchuan earthquake recovery
Voluntary organisations, local groups, and large-scale organisations all contributed to the Wenchuan earthquake relief effort. There were approximately a hundred NGOs involved in the establishment of the NGO Sichuan Disaster Relief Joint Office. 46 groups agreed to work together in June 2008 to form Sichuan's Voluntary Relief. Over a hundred NGOs joined the NGO Sichuan Disaster Relief Joint Office's initial effort (Guo, 2014). These groups were essential in that they brought specialised aid to the affected area. Approximately three hundred
groups, mostly student and volunteer societies, with some longer-term engagement from groups and organisations, joined the earthquake disaster zone. Table 4.6. shows the NGO’s involvement in the Wenchuan earthquake assistance. This figure presents the percentage of NGOs that marked a tick to each of the activities in a survey by the Flinders University. Based on this figure shows that children receives the most assistance (60.4%) and are not of the ordinary because most of the childrens’ mental health and welfare are affected so it is normal for the NGOs to prioritize them. Services to youth comes after the children (53.0%) because the middle school students or older can take care of themselves but still must be taken care of.
Visiting and consoling the victims (51.7%) are important to boost the victims’ morale. NGO’s had made the localities of the survivors more friendly by giving them the hospitalities to make sure they are comfortable with the accommodations that are provided. Psychological counseling comes next (51.0%) as the NGO’s took care of those that have trauma from the earthquake. Loosing their loved ones sure take a toll on their mental health so it is important to make sure they are in positive mood. Other than that, the assistance provided by the NGOs are organizing donation activities (45.6%). The earthquake survivors had lost their properties so many of them doesn’t have cloths and other equipments to be used so the NGOs’. Their assistance had helped them to get the essentials to be used before they could fully recover from the earthquake. Providing services to the elderly (43.0%) are lower than services provided children and youth because most of the elderly can take care of themselves. Elderly will focus on taking care of their remaining family members so very least of them that need attention from the NGOs’. NGOs also provide their assistance to investigate the disaster information (42.3%) with the government. Government will have their own disaster information investigation team but the work are outhanded so the assistance from the NGOs in gathering the disaster intel of Wenchuan earthquake to become more effective.
4. Conclusion
The effects of the Wenchuan earthquake on China's national security are the focus of this investigation. The Wenchuan earthquake caused severe geohazards and environmental devastation because of the migration of the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate. Damages to infrastructure, medical care for survivors, agricultural sites in the vicinity, and other critical infrastructure have raised serious concerns for China's national security. Money isn't the only thing that's been spent on the cleanup operation; rescue workers stayed up all night to look for earthquake victims. The survivors of the earthquake had to deal with the heartbreak of losing loved ones even as they concentrated on picking up the pieces of their lives and moving on. As time goes on, they'll need to adjust, and they'll need to do it quickly. The Chinese government constantly revised its earthquake relief strategies to ensure that no one who had been affected by the disaster was left out. The fact that China's authorities made the best possible decisions in the face of a catastrophic event bodes well for the country's economy and should serve as an example to the rest of the world.
Timeline events leading up to the Wenchuan earthquake were covered, as were their effects on people and the surrounding environment. Since many of the survivors had suffered some sort of injury, it was important to examine the numbers and determine what those wounds looked like. Damages to Wenchuan and what can happen in the future are made clear by a bird's-eye perspective of the quake's effect on the landscape. For instance, the unstable soil structure brought on by a significant loss of trees may lead the landslide induced by the earthquake to occur once more. Three specific threats to national security mental health, the economy, and nutrition are the focus of this investigation. Severe psychiatric symptomatology like as stress, anxiety, depression, somatic complaints, nightmares, and others are described in the
psychology security section as impacts of the earthquake on the mental health of survivors.
This makes sense, given that many of them were put in a life-or-death position by being exposed to the deaths of several loved ones right in front of their eyes and the sight of hundreds of bodies lying in wait for the authorities to remove them. From this, we can infer that women are more prone to stress than men because they are more easily affected by external factors and experience greater emotional turmoil when exposed to them. China's economic losses due to the earthquake are spelled out in great detail in the economic security section. In this part, we look at the ARIO model, which uses input and output data to show the direct impact of the earthquake on China's economy. Using this model, we can see that the household ARIO sector, which includes things like homes, vehicles, and other transportation, has the highest concentration of ARIOs. Due to the earthquake's devastation, much of it was uninhabitable, and the market value of the remaining buildings was significantly impacted. The final section on economic stability reveals China's recovery strategy. Wenchuan's grain and pork products are shown to have suffered immediate damage in the earthquake's aftermath, as detailed in the section on food security. The data presented here demonstrates that the Wenchuan earthquake contributed to a drop in national aggregate grain yield, while having a lesser impact on the price of pork. They play a crucial role in ensuring the nation's food supply and in exporting that food to other countries. Recovery efforts from the earthquake in China are discussed in this chapter. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the PRC and the State Council have suggested laws, regulations, and strategies for the prevention, relief, and recovery after the Wenchuan earthquake. China's dedication to facilitating a smoother, more effective recovery process and avoiding any untoward incidents is underscored by a comprehensive explanation of the country's official policy. So that the recovery process goes off without a hitch, it is imperative that emergency management be based on law. The list of services offered by NGOs to aid in earthquake recovery is displayed, with the provision of assistance to children being the primary focus of these organisations. In order to aid government personnel, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also participate in catastrophe information investigations. The recovery efforts following the Wenchuan earthquake were successful and improved the quality of life for inhabitants thanks to the close collaboration between the Chinese government and non-governmental organisations.
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