The emerging vulnerable population of the urbanisation resulting from post-disaster recovery of the Wenchuan earthquake

Disaster recovery is a special driving force for urbanisation in China, and the household registration system makes the interaction between recovery and urbanisation unique and complex. During the post-Wenchuan earthquake recovery efforts, many towns and villages altered original land-use patterns to accelerate the pace of urbanisation. This process expedited the reconstruction of infrastructure and boosted regional economic development, but also resulted in changes in household registration for farmers whose land was requisitioned, creating a new series of social problems. This study examined one town in Sichuan Province as a case study to explore perceptions of the recovery process and analyse quantitatively the relationships between economic recovery level and household characteristics during the post-disaster recovery period. Based on personal interviews and 513 valid household questionnaires, the study found that: (1) households that changed their household registration during the recovery were more dissatisfied with the recovery process and their life status; (2) the economic conditions of households whose householders were between 46 and 55 years of age deteriorated significantly, which created an emerging vulnerable population; and (3) people who work away from their hometown all year were more dissatisfied with the recovery work to date. These analyses helped us visualise the interaction between post-disaster recovery and urbanisation in China, and identify and understand the vulnerable population that emerges from this process. This study indicates that there is a strong need for more flexible policies and population group-orientated regulations in post-disaster recovery. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015