Emergency Response to and Preparedness for Extreme Weather Events and Environmental Changes in China

China has achieved impressive rapid economic growth over the past 30 years but accompanied by significant extreme weather events and environmental changes caused by global change and overfast urbanization. Using the absolute hazards index (AHI), we assessed the spatial distribution patterns and rela...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAsia-Pacific journal of public health Vol. 28; no. 2 Suppl; p. 59S
Main Authors Wang, Li, Liao, Yongfeng, Yang, Linsheng, Li, Hairong, Ye, Bixiong, Wang, Wuyi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published China 01.03.2016
Subjects
China
Climate Change
Disaster Planning - organization & administration
Disasters
Humans
Spatial Analysis
Urbanization
Weather
China
absolute hazards index
extreme health event
preparedness
response
environmental change
disaster
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Summary:China has achieved impressive rapid economic growth over the past 30 years but accompanied by significant extreme weather events and environmental changes caused by global change and overfast urbanization. Using the absolute hazards index (AHI), we assessed the spatial distribution patterns and related health effects of 4 major extreme natural disasters, including drought, floods (landslides, mudslides), hails, and typhoons from 2000 to 2011 at the provincial level in China. The results showed that (1) central and south China were the most affected by the 4 natural disasters, and north China suffered less; (2) the provinces with higher AHI suffered most from total death, missing people, collapse, and emergently relocated population; (3) the present health emergency response system to disasters in China mainly lacks a multidisciplinary approach. In the concluding section of this article, suggestions on preparedness and rapid response to extreme health events from environmental changes are proposed.
ISSN:1941-2479
DOI:10.1177/1010539514549763