Analyzing regional economic impact and resilience: a case study on electricity outages caused by the 2008 snowstorms in southern China

• Published in: Natural hazards (Dordrecht) Vol. 70; no. 2; pp. 1019 - 1030
• Main Authors: Hu, Aijun, Xie, Wei, Li, Ning, Xu, Xuanhua, Ji, Zhonghui, Wu, Jidong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Case studies; Civil Engineering; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Economic impact; Electricity; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Management; Exact sciences and technology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hydrogeology; Natural disasters; Natural Hazards; Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc; Original Paper; Regions; Snow; Storms; Hunan China; Southern China; Far East; Asia; China; China, People's Rep., Hunan Prov; CGE; Indirect economic losses; IO; Resilience; models; substitution; economic impacts; price; natural disasters; equilibrium; recovery
• ISSN: 0921-030X; 1573-0840
• DOI: 10.1007/s11069-013-0858-9

When we think about the loss caused by natural disasters, we generally think about the direct economic loss. Although the direct economic loss is often obvious, the subsequent indirect economic loss can also be quite substantial. This research is a case study about the indirect economic impact of the Hunan electricity disruptions resulting from the 2008 snowstorms in southern China. Utilizing the computable general equilibrium model, this study shows that the indirect economic loss in Hunan Province resulting from electricity supply disruptions is estimated at USD 372 million over a 3-month recovery period. We also compare our results with other studies that use input–output models and discuss how the total regional economic resilience can mitigate economic losses through market substitutions and price changes.