5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014 Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice 24-28 August 2014 in Davos, Switzerland

1. From new town to new home:
Memory-Oriented Post-disaster Reconstructi
on,
Sichuan, China, 2008
Haorui Wu, PhD
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada

2. Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan, Chin
a
 150 million people without housing
 Exceeded equivalent of US$190 billon total damages
 29,704 reconstruction projects

3. Comparison of Reconstruction Time & Casualties
Disaster
Sichuan
Earthquake
China
921
Earthquake
Taiwan
Hurricane
Katrina
USA
Kobe
Earthquake
Japan
Affected
People
(Thousand) 150,000 100 15,000 300
Casualties 69,195 2,415 1,833 6,434
Construction
Years 3 10 11 10
 Short-term
 Government-led
 Massive projects

4. “Airdrop” Buildings
 Designed by nonlocal architects
 Built with imported materials
 Lacking in local cultural characteristics
 High maintenance fees

5. “Airdrop” Towns
Lack sense of home
Unlike their original
home towns
Super short design
period
Limited local
support

6. Main Problem: “Loss Sense of Home”
New Town
Sense of
home
Memory
Original hometown

7. Memory of Place Experience
Daily Life and Use of Space
Memory of
home
Social
memory
Whole town
Small district
Individual
memory
Individual home
Surroundings

8. Three Stages of Post-Disaster
Reconstruction and Recovery
Reconstruction
Return to
pre-disaster
condition
Long-term
Recovery
Re-establishing
Social patterns
Emergency
Immediately
after a disaster

9. Emergency stage:
Memory of Previous Disasters
 Emergency evacuation

10. Emergency stage:
Memory of Previous Disasters
 A landslide triggered by earthquake threaten a city

11. Emergency stage:
Memory of Previous Disasters
 A landslide blocked the river and destroyed a town

12. Reconstruction stage:
Memory of Place Making
 Changed an empty roof to a chess room

13. Reconstruction stage:
Memory of Place Making
 Drying grain in the space beside the staircase

14. Reconstruction stage:
Memory of Place Making
 Changed a wasteland to a parking lot

15. Reconstruction stage:
Memory of Place Making
 Built a storage room for farming tools

16. Long-term Recovery Stage:
Homesickness and Uprootedness
 Return to a repaired house

17. Long-term Recovery Stage:
Homesickness and Uprootedness
 A livestock shelter

18. Long-term Recovery Stage:
Homesickness and Uprootedness
 Poultry- ducks

19. Long-term Recovery Stage:
Homesickness and Uprootedness
 A recently built storage room

20. Functions of Memory
Reconstruction
Tool
Reconstruction
Recovery
Tool
Long-term
Recovery
Survival
Tool
Emergency

21. Thank you for your
kind attention!