How Does Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas (PADAA) Contribute to Economic Sustainability? A Qualitative Analysis of Wenchuan County
1
School of Economics & Management, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China
2
Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
3
School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2019, 11(14), 3915; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143915
Received: 13 February 2019 / Revised: 24 June 2019 / Accepted: 27 June 2019 / Published: 18 July 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Local Government Responses to Catalyse Sustainable Urban Development)
There is a high risk of an economic downturn after the end of reconstruction efforts following natural hazards. High levels of external assistance can sometimes weaken local autonomy and self-sufficiency, creating the pre-conditions for a “forgotten phase”. However, through the three-year Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas project (PADAA), the economy of Wenchuan County in China recovered to its pre-earthquake levels within two years and has shown clear signs of economic sustainability. Through a qualitative research approach based on the analysis of expert interviews, secondary data, and relevant documentation, this study discusses the phases of the reconstruction process following the Wenchuan earthquake, and the factors behind the success of the PADAA process in enabling economic sustainability. Some of the identified factors include: (1) the reshaping of local livelihoods and economic structure through a large number of investments in public infrastructure; (2) knowledge acquisition, self-adjustment, and the ability to meet the needs of a new economy and social development through institutional reform and openness; (3) increasing amounts of attracted investments and the development of sustainable industrial structures through the improvement of the local government’s economic governance.
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Keywords:
paired assistance; long-term recovery; Wenchuan Earthquake; China
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zhang, X.; Wang, Z. How Does Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas (PADAA) Contribute to Economic Sustainability? A Qualitative Analysis of Wenchuan County. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143915
AMA Style
Zhang X, Wang Z. How Does Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas (PADAA) Contribute to Economic Sustainability? A Qualitative Analysis of Wenchuan County. Sustainability. 2019; 11(14):3915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143915
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhang, Xiaojun; Wang, Zhiqiang. 2019. "How Does Paired Assistance to Disaster-Affected Areas (PADAA) Contribute to Economic Sustainability? A Qualitative Analysis of Wenchuan County" Sustainability 11, no. 14: 3915. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143915
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