Lessons of Disasters Past Could Guide Sichuan's Revival

摘要

Two months after an earthquake devastated a mountainous swath of Sichuan Province, urban planning experts met~* here to take stock of how past disaster responses could guide a massive reconstruction effort about to get under way. One tragic lesson confirmed by structural engineers is the shoddi-ness of many schools and other buildings that collapsed-and the countless deaths that could have been avoided. "This disaster creates an opportunity to rebuild a more resilient community," says Steven French, an urban planning professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. As John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, puts it, "now is the moment to appraise, with sober wisdom, how to avoid the mistakes of history." Questions include where to rebuild communities and whether building codes must be strengthened.