An approach to the disaster profile of People's Republic of China 1980-2013

Abstract

This last number of 2016 of the Emergency and Disaster Reports is a general approach to the disaster profile of China. The People’s Republic of China is a country that suffers high losses from disasters, in terms of human life as well as socioeconomic losses. This disaster risk profile was developed in order to provide an overview of the risks that China faces, including probability of different types of hazards; vulnerability from exposure due to geographical, topographical and socioeconomic factors; and existing policies and strategies for disaster risk reduction. The risk profile presented here is based on historical information of disasters and previous research on vulnerability and risk factors. Due to the extensive amount of literature and data on natural disasters, the majority of this report focuses on these disasters, although it is recognized that technological disasters are equally important and require more attention in future research.