An Analysis Of Policy Effect,Earthquake Experience And Rural Households' Earthquake-Resistant Construction Behavior

Due to the lack of earthquake-resistant rural houses,small and medium earthquakes caused massive casualties in rural China.In 2004,China began implementing the Earthquake Rural Housing Safety Project Policy(ERHSPP)to reduce earthquake losses,mainly promoting the adoption of earthquake-resistant structures in rural residents' self-built houses through policy subsidies and engineering measures(provision of earthquake-resistant housing drawings,construction of seismic patand,and training of construction craftsmen).ERHSPP involves research on the engineering issues of rural housing earthquake resistance,the propaganda of earthquake-resistant technology,policy effects,and disaster preparedness behavior of rural residents.This research used face-to-face interview data of a field survey,collecting 1169 rural households in Pingliang,Gansu Province,and 1501 rural households in Yuxi,Yunnan Province,China.This research studied Earthquake-Resistant Construction Behaviors(E-RCB)by the logistic and the ordered logistic regression models.Results showed:(1)Government housing subsidy promotes E-RCB of rural households;(2)The more households understand about the policy subsidies related to rural housing projects,the more likely they are to adopt E-RCB.(3)The better the economic conditions,households whose houses collapsed due to earthquakes are also more likely to adopt E-RCB.However,households whose houses are less earthquake-resistant and older are less likely to adopt E-RCB.(4)Whether to adopt E-RCB is strongly influenced by different degrees of earthquake experience.A lesser degree of felt earthquake experience may not necessarily promote E-RCB,while a more severe degree of self-owned housing destruction experience,that is,the house has been damaged by the earthquake,will obviously promote E-RCB.The results show that the policy is necessary to continue.This research suggest the local government should promote local acceptable disaster propaganda,provide hierarchical housing subsidies,pay attention to housing seismic supervision,publish earthquake-resistant housing design drawings,conduct more earthquake-resistant technical training for rural craftsmen,and provide affordable houses for rural households with lower incomes.