Preventing and limiting exposure to geo-hazards: Some lessons from two mountain villages destroyed by the Wenchuan earthquake

Abstract

This paper examines the experiences of two mountain communities-Yinchanggou and Donghekou in the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, where Yinchanggou's tourism economy and natural park system was destroyed and Donghekou was buried by a landslide. We conducted research surveys on both the communities, interviewing survivors and local officials, and observed the destruction/reconstruction, geological, and living conditions. We suggest that protracted educational processes be put into place so that mountain communities possess a knowledge base to consider long-term disaster prevention when building the economy in the fragile and geo-hazardous conditions of the Longmenshan. The Donghekou Earthquake Ruins Park is an exemplar of turning disaster into sustainable, safe development for small mountain villages.

Dark touristic perception: Motivation, experience and benefits interpreted from the visit to seismic memorial sites in Sichuan province

“…In addition to the mass causality, the multiple costs of the tragedy include complete destruction of towns and cities and the shattering of local economies. For instance, Donghekou, a local community was buried by a landslide whereas the tourism economy of Yinchanggou (a mountain resort) and its natural park system was severely destroyed (Laurence et al 2011). …”

Quantifying the Variability of Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability in the Largest Water Tower Region Globally

“…In terms of environmental disturbance, the vulnerability tends to decrease, but the vulnerability risk of the southeastern marginal area is still high. Among natural disasters, the landslide factor contributes the most, so the forest vulnerability risk can be reduced by preventing and controlling mountain disasters such as landslides and mudflows [ 55 ]. This is also an important part of maintaining the health of forest ecosystems.…”

Natural disaster management in tourist destinations: a systematic literature review

“…This places emphasis on the importance of planning as a differential in post-disaster management (Faulkner & Vilulov, 2001) and on formal prevention documents with actions for implementation by local actors and entrepreneurs and that underpin a continuous educational process (Svirchev et al, 2011). Of equal importance are, based on the experience gained in times of crisis, the implementation of risk management plans that serve as anticipatory mechanisms (Tsai et al, 2012), the implementation of collaborative management strategies (Hystad & Keller, 2006).…”

“…There is also the damage done to the physical foundations of the regional tourism sector, in particular the loss of forest over approximately 600,000 hectares of national parks and areas of conservation and their various tourism installations and infrastructures. Svirchev et al (2011) emphasise that as a consequence of the earthquake, there was the loss of almost all homes, restaurants, tourism accommodation and infrastructures and rendering much of the region temporarily uninhabitable. Thapa et al (2013), in turn, stress that the impacts of forest fires were more pronounced in terms of the role of the media given that the substitution of the destination is more probable among potential tourists based on their perceptions of risk and correspondingly warning of the need for prudence in the media's presentation of information as there is a general trend to sensationalise the effects of any crisis.…”