Int J Disaster Risk Sci (2019) 10:193–203 www.ijdrs.com https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-019-0221-1 www.springer.com/13753 ARTICLE Post-disaster Psychosocial Capacity Building for Women in a Chinese Rural Village 1,2,3 1 3 4 Timothy Sim • Jocelyn Lau • Ke Cui • Hsi-Hsien Wei Published online: 20 May 2019 Ó The Author(s) 2019 Abstract Mental health interventions following disasters Keywords China Á Natural hazard-induced have been criticized as individualistic, incomplete, and disasters Á Post-disaster recovery Á Psychosocial capacity culturally insensitive. This article showcases the effects of building Á Success case method Á Women’ empowerment a culturally relevant and sustainable psychosocial capacity- building project at the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. Specifically, the project focuses on women, a 1 Introduction group that has received limited attention in post-disaster recovery in China. This qualitative research study (N = 14) Disaster vulnerability is complex; it captures a combination sheds light on the characteristics and processes of the of characteristics of the individual, group, or community, implementation of a post-disaster psychosocial intervention as well as the impact of social, economic, cultural, and project in rural China. In addition, by adopting the Success political factors. All of these variables affect one’s ability Case Method as an evaluation approach, this study eluci- to anticipate, cope with, and recover from a disaster dates its effects on the psychological and social changes of (Wisner et al. 2004; Gil-Rivas and Kilmer 2016). Among the disaster victims. The findings capture five aspects of survivors, women have been identified as one of the most psychosocial changes: enriched daily life, better mood, vulnerable groups during and after disasters, due to their enhanced self-confidence, increased willingness to social- physical vulnerability and disadvantaged position in many ize, and the provision of mutual help. This study hopes to societies (Aryal 2014; Baker and Cormier 2014; Sohra- encourage more culturally relevant and empowering prac- bizadeh et al. 2016). In addition to dealing with the con- tices for women in building their psychosocial capacity sequences of the event itself, they are usually further after disasters. burdened or weakened after a disaster, as women are expected to carry out normal domestic tasks despite the more challenging and complex post-disaster environment (Twigg 2004). On 12 May 2008, an earthquake with 8.0-magnitude & Jocelyn Lau occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China. It [email protected] was the deadliest and strongest one to hit the country since the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake. The catastrophe left more 1 Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China than 87,000 people dead or missing and more than 374,640 injured in Sichuan and the neighboring provinces (Liu 2 World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Community Health Services, School of Nursing, The Hong 2009). Moreover, the earthquake deprived 1.15 million Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China rural people in Sichuan Province of their livelihood, as the 3 School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, tremors wreaked havoc on their leased farmland and forests Chengdu 610065, China (Rao et al. 2011). These factors impacted residents in 4 Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong devastated areas adversely in terms of health, property, Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China housing, employment, and their living environment. In 123 194 Sim et al. Post-disaster Psychosocial Capacity Building for Women addition, the earthquake was not only a natural calamity building as ‘‘intervention, provided by professional and but also a cultural catastrophe; it hit areas in where the non-professional people, both local and from the outside, majority of Qiang and Zang (Tibetan) ethnic minority that constitutes a multi-systemic, culturally grounded, groups resided, and destroyed most of the area’s precious empowerment- and resiliency-oriented approach designed cultural relics (Han et al. 2016). to help individuals, families, social groups, and commu- The earthquake had seriously disrupted many women’s nities recover from a disaster. Psychosocial capacity social support networks as a result of the severe loss of building seeks to be sustainable over time and builds on the close family members, colleagues, friends, and neighbors. foundation of local capacities and resources’’ (Miller 2012, It created a huge shock to local women’s social lives and p. 191). self-identities in a rural and ethnic diverse setting (Hu The definition itself reveals four foundational principles 2010). Many female disaster victims reported recurrent of the psychosocial capacity building (PCB) model: (1) symptoms of crying, sleep problems, and suicidal ideation cultural responsiveness must be a key in the process of after the 2008 earthquake (Li et al. 2011). Although many psychosocial capacity building; (2) collective capacity nongovernmental organizations provided mental health and should be rebuilt through empowering local people; (3) psychological support to survivors, most of their attention individuals’ strengths and sources of resilience should be at directed towards children, adolescents, and older people, the forefront; and (2) families, social groups, and com- with little attention paid to women (Huang and Wong munities should be seen as the core units of psychosocial 2013). In light of this, a psychosocial capacity-building rebuilding following a disaster. project that aimed at enhancing the psychosocial well-be- These underlying principles reinforce the differentiation ing of women survivors was set up in the epicenter, and this of the approach from one that solely focuses on mental study reports on the development and insights of the effect health recovery to an ecological psychosocial one that of the project initiated in a rural Chinese village located at considers more than the individual and places greater Yingxiu Town, the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan emphasis on rebuilding and strengthening collective Earthquake. Specifically, it emphases the importance of capacity (Miller 2012). promoting culturally relevant and empowering practices for women, without undermining their resilience, as well as their significant contributions to their families and com- 3 Project Planning, Design, and Intervention munities following disasters. The target group of this project was women disaster vic- tims from Zhangjiaping Village of Yingxiu Town, which 2 Mental Health and Psychosocial Support was the epicenter of the Wenchuan Earthquake that occurred on 12 May 2008. The village is situated in Mental health and psychosocial support have increasingly Wenchuan County, where is predominantly inhabited by been seen as a standard humanitarian response to the people of the Qiang ethnic group. The impact of the quake negative effects of disasters (Tol and van Ommeren 2012). on Yingxiu Town alone could be reflected in number Although mental health protocols and psychosocial support terms—out of the original population of about 15,000 in are often applied complementarily, their nature of focuses the town, there were only 5000 left after that fateful quake are in fact fundamentally different. The Inter-Agency (Siu 2016). What is worse, the quake triggered numerous Standing Committee (IASC 2007) reiterated that the focus natural hazards, namely, landslides and debris flows, which of mental health protocols is more on the psychological continued to afflict local population with chronic mental consequences of disaster victims—emphasizing disaster pressure in the years following the catastrophe. Especially survivors’ stress and reaction to trauma, particularly in during the wet season, the loose soil and rock materials terms of post-traumatic stress disorders. In contrast, psy- distributed on steep slopes and in channels caused by the chosocial support pays greater attention to the social quake could easily evolve into debris flows once triggered aspects of recovery and considers psychosocial strategy as by heavy rainfall (Xu et al. 2012). The intensity and fre- an effective mental health care (Becker 2007; Suarez quency of these natural hazards were consistently high. For 2016). Its emergence was in part a reaction against the instance, the heavy rainfall on 24 September 2008 triggered protocols’ overemphasis on the individual at the expense of 72 debris flows in Beichuan County (Tang et al. 2011), collectivity and the community (IASC 2007; Miller 2012). where the old county town of the epicenter was completely In his seminal work, Psychosocial Capacity Building in buried by 6 to 10 m thick debris. Another rainfall on 13–14 Response to Disasters, Miller (2012) was one of the first to August 2010 caused 80 debris flows in Qingping, Yingxiu, propose a unified model of post-disaster psychosocial and Longchi Towns, leaving the reconstructed towns par- capacity building. He defined psychosocial capacity tially or totally destroyed by the debris flows (Huang and 123 Int J Disaster Risk Sci 195 Li 2014). The severest one occurred on 9–11 July 2013 namely cultural expertise, music, and costumes, which where the impacted areas covered more than 90% of made Guozhuang dance an obvious and favorable choice communities in Wenchuan County. Particularly, over 240 when developing a project that has the potential to be the debris flows occurred on 10 July alone along the Min River nexus