From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Natural disasters
in China are the result of several different
natural hazards
that affect the country according to its particular geographic and geologic features affecting both humans and animals.
Perception of disasters
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Natural disasters reveal the traditional view of disasters as
divine retribution
:
tian zai
(天災), literally 'heavenly disaster'.
In ancient beliefs, natural disasters were seen as Heaven's response to immoral human behaviour, whereby the conduct of different individuals carried different weights. While the behaviour of common people ranked last, the actions of bureaucrats had a greater effect.
[1]
Given that in Imperial China the emperor's behaviour was believed to be the most important, popular belief was that the emperor should attempt to prevent disasters by ensuring his conduct was in following with moral codes ? and if a disaster should occur, he was responsible for addressing the consequences. According to the
Overseas Development Institute
, the state-led nature of humanitarian aid in today's China traces back to these traditional beliefs.
[2]
Chinese believed that natural disasters would foretell the end of a dynasty or the death of a great leader.
This concept of cosmic linkage between natural disasters and human conduct was radically rejected at the height of Maoist years when nature was represented as ‘an enemy to be overcome, an adversary to be brought to heel’. Propaganda posters were produced with the slogan, "Earthquakes cannot frighten us, the people will certainly conquer nature."
[3]
Types
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Earthquakes
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The
People's Republic of China
established a
National Earthquake Administration
in 1971 to take charge of monitoring, research, and emergency response for earthquakes. It was renamed
China Earthquake Administration
(
CEA
) in 1998, mandated by the
Earthquake prevention and Disaster Reduction Act of PRC
[4]
under the
State Council
. Each provincial, autonomous regional, and centrally administered municipal government also has its own earthquake administration that is under the direction of CEA.
[5]
Famine
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Among the
famines in China
, the worst ever was the
Great Chinese Famine
.
Fire
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Flood
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Plague
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Emergency management
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The
National Disaster Reduction Center
(NDRC) of the
Ministry of Civil Affairs
(MCA) is a specialized agency under the
Chinese Government
engaged in information services and supporting decisions on various natural disasters. It provides reference for
disaster-management
departments in their decision-making and technical support for China's disaster-reduction undertakings by way of collecting and analyzing disaster information, assessing disasters and
emergency relief
, and analyzing and studying disasters using such advanced technology as
satellite
remote sensing
.
See also
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References
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- ^
, Elvin, M. ‘Who Was Responsible for the Weather? Moral Meteorology in Late Imperial China’
Science, Technology, and Medicine in East and Southeast Asia
, 1998
- ^
Krebs, Hanna B.
"Responsibility, legitimacy, morality: Chinese humanitarianism in historical perspective"
,
Overseas Development Institute
, September 2014
- ^
Krebs, Hanna B.
"Responsibility, legitimacy, morality: Chinese humanitarianism in historical perspective"
,
Overseas Development Institute
, September 2014
- ^
Chinese
:
《中?人民共和?防震??法》
- ^
"Introduction to CEA (中?地震局:机??介)"
(in Chinese)
. Retrieved
2008-09-21
.
External links
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Background and theory
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Measurements
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Theory
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Research and modelling
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