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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-06 07:46

We cannot rush to start reconstruction work in the quake areas without detailed planning, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

On June 1, the National Development and Reform Commission said that a special team in charge of the reconstruction plan of the Wenchuan earthquake was already established, based on the decision made by the State Council. And that team held its first meeting a few days before, having discussed the scheme of reconstruction for the Wenchuan quake area. At the meeting, the team identified the main tasks of the reconstruction, the main participants in this work, and the requirement for the rate of progress.

We can thus see the government has attached great importance to the planning prior to the reconstruction.

During the planning, experiences from other reconstruction processes should be borrowed. The reconstruction after the Tangshan earthquake 32 years ago seems to be a good example, but the problem is that the quake in Sichuan is greatly different from that in Tangshan, due to their different geographic situations, climates, and cultural foundations. So, it is not wise to duplicate the reconstruction experience in Tangshan.

Lijiang, a city in Yunnan province, close to Sichuan, was also struck by a quake of 7 magnitude in 1996. Ten years after the quake, Lijiang has transformed from an obscure town on the border into a world-renowned tourist town. Its reconstruction experience is precious, in matters such as the reclamation of construction materials from the destroyed buildings and the rebuilding of houses by farmers themselves guided by the standards released by the government. This experience may be helpful for the reconstruction of Dujiangyan, also a tourist city. But it is also limited. It is not suitable for towns like Beichuan, which needs to be built on a new site, and Mianzhu, where large enterprises are clustered.

What is reassuring is that governments at different levels have adopted a long-term view toward the reconstruction and are not rushing to make decisions.

Recently, the Dujiangyan municipal government has begun to collect the schemes of reconstruction from both home and abroad, encouraging experts across the world to put forward advice. As an official there in charge of collection of the schemes said, they will rebuild Dujiangyan with a high standard and try to make the reconstruction of Dujiangyan a role model in the world in terms of disaster-induced urban reconstruction.

No matter what kind of reconstruction experiences we are studying now, we should pick and choose the suitable ones for us Reconstruction is a systematic project, which must be able to solve the short-term issues and meanwhile can meet the long-term needs. It needs not only the participation of government bodies, but also the helping hands of the people. Only through scientific and long-term planning and down-to-earth work can reconstruction in the quake areas ensure balanced and sustainable development.

(China Daily 06/06/2008 page8)