Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1771–1783, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-1771-2018 © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Analysis of the disaster characteristics and emergency response of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake Wei Wang1, Hong Chen2, Aihui Xu2, and Minhao Qu3 1Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration, Harbin 150080, China 2Institute of Crustal Dynamics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100085, China 3National Earthquake Response Support Service, Beijing 100049, China Correspondence: Hong Chen ([email protected]) Received: 24 November 2017 – Discussion started: 11 December 2017 Revised: 30 March 2018 – Accepted: 15 June 2018 – Published: 27 June 2018 Abstract. China’s earthquake emergency response system garding earthquakes, meteorological and flood disasters, wa- has been improved by lessons learned from multiple earth- ter pollution, soil desertification, forest fires and environment quakes. This paper focuses on the Ms 7.0 earthquake that oc- protection. However, China’s modern emergency manage- curred in Jiuzhaigou County, Sichuan Province, China, on ment was preliminary formed during the SARS (severe acute 8 August 2017 and assesses the emergency response activ- respiratory syndrome) event in 2003, which affected as many ities of all levels of government as well as various depart- as 26 provinces and 5327 persons with a death rate of 6.53 % ments, rescue teams, enterprises and public institutions and (Li et al., 2004), highlighting the importance of emergency social organizations. The emergency response is compared response. China used advanced emergency management con- to other large earthquakes that occurred in China in recent cepts of all-hazards approach, integrated emergency manage- years. The lessons learned from these experiences can in- ment system, emergency life cycle, and emergency planning form the emergency response to future disasters. The char- (Coombs, 1999; Alexander, 2002, 2015; Perry and Lindell, acteristics of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake and the emergency 2003; Greiving et al., 2012) for reference. Since then, China’s responses after the event are analysed. The response level and emergency management system has undergone a significant resource mobilization were appropriately adjusted as the dis- change, which has led to an integrated response during emer- aster developed, and various departments worked together to gencies. Its approach can be summarized as “one planning conduct multi-sector joint rescue efforts. Additionally, pro- plus three systems”: emergency response plan, emergency fessional rescue forces and participating social organizations legislation system, emergency institutional system and the were more rationally mobilized than during past earthquake emergency regulatory system. emergency responses. A set of effective disaster relief com- China’s emergency response plan has three layers. First is mand and coordination mechanisms was established to fa- the state overall emergency response plan, the General State cilitate cooperation between multiple departments and social Emergency Response Plan for Unexpected Public Emergen- organizations under the leadership of the local government. cies (General Office of the State Council, 2006a) promul- Finally, new and more effective technologies played an im- gated by the State Council in January 2006. In addition, there portant role in the emergency response and rescue efforts fol- are 25 state specialized emergency response plans and 80 lowing the earthquake. departmental emergency response plans (Liu and Li, 2010). The state overall emergency response plan divides emergen- cies into four categories: natural disasters, accidental dis- asters, public health incidents and social security incidents. 1 Introduction Based on the degree of social damage and scope of impact, the response also has four levels: grade I (extremely serious), Since the early 1980s, more than 30 laws and regulations on grade II (serious), grade III (major) and grade IV (ordinary). disaster prevention and reduction have been promulgated re- Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 1772 W. Wang et al.: Analysis of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake emergency response China’s emergency response plan system by and large covers missing. In total, 176 492 were affected, and 73 671 houses the state specialized emergency response plans of all gov- were damaged to varying degrees (76 of which collapsed) ernment sectors (the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of (Bai, 2017). The earthquake generally had the following Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Hous- disaster characteristics. ing and Urban–Rural Development, Ministry of Transport, 1. A low proportion of buildings completely collapsed. National Health and Family Planning Commission, China The earthquake struck a total of eight counties in Earthquake Administration (CEA), etc.) and all government Sichuan and Gansu provinces and exhibited a maximum levels (national, provincial, municipal, prefectural and com- intensity of 9 degrees in the epicentre area. (China uses munity). Among state specialized emergency response plans, a 12-degree intensity scale, where 9 degrees indicates the State Emergency Response Plan for Earthquake applies that most wood structure house and half-timber struc- to emergency response activities such as earthquake disasters tures are either destroyed or seriously damaged; few (as well as volcanic disasters) (General Office of the State brick masonry structures are destroyed, though most are Council, 2012). Based on the Emergency Response Law of either seriously or moderately damaged; and few frame the People’s Republic of China (The 10th Standing Com- structures are destroyed or most suffer either moderate mittee of the National People’s Congress, 2007), the Law or minor damage.) The area with an intensity of 9 de- of the People’s Republic of China on Protecting Against grees spanned 139 km2 in Jiuzhaigou County, while the and Mitigating of Earthquake Disasters (Standing Commit- total area with an intensity of 6 degrees exceeded 18 295 tee of the National People’s Congress, 2008) and the State km2, as shown in Fig. 1 (China Earthquake Administra- Emergency Response Plan for Earthquake, CEA formulated tion, 2017). The earthquake region had been previously departmental Emergency Response Plan (China Earthquake affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and thus Administration, 2013). All levels of the government of the many houses in the disaster area had been rebuilt. These People’s Republic of China, relevant departments, depart- buildings were constructed with a seismic precaution- ments in charge of earthquake-related work, units directly ary intensity of 8 degrees, and thus possessed high lev- under CEA, key enterprises and institutions, schools, hos- els of seismic fortification and favourable shock resis- pitals, communities and condensed populated places have tance. Among the damaged houses, only 0.1 % were established their own emergency response plans for earth- completely collapsed. quake. China’s emergency response mechanism has contin- ually improved through practical testing during the Ms 8.0 2. Secondary disasters after the earthquake were very seri- Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the Ms 7.1 Yushu earthquake ous. The earthquake occurred in a high-elevation moun- in 2010 and the Ms 7.0 Lushan earthquake in 2013. In the Ji- tain gorge, and Jiuzhaigou is situated in the transition uzhaigou earthquake of 2017, the response activities of var- zone between the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and the Sichuan ious governmental departments at all levels were evaluated Basin, within a valley that is over 50 km long. The res- as outstanding, and the experience and lessons learned were idents and infrastructure are distributed throughout the valuable as China’s earthquake emergency response system river valley, and thus residents and vehicles passing ad- matures. jacent to the high, steep mountains were vulnerable to secondary disasters such as landslides, rockfalls and mudslides. The earthquake triggered at least 622 co- 2 Disaster characteristics seismic landslides within an image cover 3919 km2 (Wu et al., 2017), disrupting road traffic, smashing passing A Ms 7.0 (Mw 6.5) earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou vehicles and dislodging large boulders (which were re- County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefec- sponsible for over half of the 25 victims). The image in ture, Sichuan Province, China, at 21:19:46 on 8 August 2017 Fig. 2 was taken by the author on the day following the (13:19:46 GMT on 8 August 2017). The epicentre was disaster. The roads were narrow due to continued land- located at 33.193◦ N, 103.855◦ E with a focal depth of slide activity, and serious rockfalls had occurred. Due 20 km. The earthquake occurred along a strike-slip fault at to numerous landslides, the natural landscape and en- the intersection of the Minjiang, Tazang and Huya faults. vironment in the scenic areas of Jiuzhaigou were se- The epicentre was 39 km away from Jiuzhaigou County riously damaged. Figure 3 shows remote sensing im- and 285 km away from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan ages acquired by UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) over Province. The population density of Jiuzhaigou County is the scenic areas in Jiuzhaigou, where the regions delin- 15 people km−2; however, as August is a popular season eated with yellow lines represent landslide areas. Fig- for tourism in Jiuzhaigou, there