Major natural disasters and their spatio-temporal variation in the history of China

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)

LIU, Y.

Inst. of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing, Chine

YANG, Y.

Inst. of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing, Chine

Graduate Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Chine

LI, L.

Academy of China Development Bank, Beijing, Chine

Description :
Based on historical documents and records this paper analyzes the characteristics of frequency and distribution of major disasters that took place in the history of China. The results indicate that there is a strong relationship between type of disasters and spatial distribution and that the spatial pattern of losses was not the same as that of the frequency. The reasons are : (1) the hazard-formative environments which, to a large extent, determine the spatial pattern of the disasters are significantly different; (2) the losses caused by natural disasters were closely related to the concentration of economy and population. Number of deaths was usually large in areas where agriculture, culture and business were relatively developed. The spatial pattern of disaster losses is an evitable result of uneven economic development in the history of China.

Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Journal of geographical sciences. Acta geographica sinica, issn : 1009-637X, 2012, vol. 22, n°. 6, p. 963-976, nombre de pages : 14, Références bibliographiques : 29 ref.

Date :
2012

Editeur :
Pays édition : Chine

Langue :
Anglais