Towards comprehensive regional resilience evaluation, resistance, recovery, and creativity: From the perspective of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

Regional resilience is the ability to resist, recover, and redevelop (creativity) after a disaster. However, few comprehensive pre-and post-disaster analyses based on resilience indicators have been conducted. This research used ordination and clustering analyses to develop a comprehensive framework that included a multi-indicator horizontal analysis and an uni-indicator longitudinal recovery trend analysis. Novel resilience evaluation criteria and a resilience score that accounted for both short-term resistance and long-term recovery and creativity are also proposed. The framework was then applied to data from 55 counties in Sichuan Province, China, before and after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake (2005-2016). It was found that: (i) after the Wenchuan Earthquake, the economic and public facility-related indicators first underwent a one to three-year recovery process after which there was a period of steady redevelopment; (ii) the more economically developed regions had higher resilience; and (iii) compared with the average for the more developed regions, the underdeveloped regions appeared to have better catastrophic earthquake resistance and recovery capabilities. This research provides a comprehensive quantitative regional resilience evaluation, which could assist emergency managers and decision-makers in improving disaster resilience.

Automated summary

This research conducted a comprehensive pre- and post-disaster analysis using resilience indicators, and proposed a novel framework for resilience evaluation. The study found that economically developed regions had higher resilience, while underdeveloped regions showed better earthquake resistance and recovery capabilities. This research provides valuable quantitative methods for regional resilience evaluation.