The building of social resilience in Sichuan after the Wenchuan earthquake: A perspective of the socio-government interactions

In the decade since the Wenchuan earthquake, the literature has focused more on empowering communities during disaster management in China. This study investigates China’s current disaster management system design; specifically, it identifies ways and methods for counteracting any conflicts between disaster management under social synergies and China’s emergency management system. It further explores what factors facilitate the balance between social synergies and the emergency management system if the two concepts were fused together.

The authors conclude that:

1. Strengthening social resilience, trust, and the sense of community can facilitate efforts to bring all the social entities to work together.
2. More interaction, communication, understanding, and dialogue between the government and the social groups are necessary for the future.
3. It would be helpful if the Chinese government could give moderately more space for civil society participation, making it more likely to include creative approaches in disaster management.