Spatiotemporal Evolution and Socioeconomic Impacts of Rainstorms and Droughts in Contiguous Poverty-Stricken Areas of China

Aiwei Li, Shuyuan Gao, Miaoni Gao (), Xueqing Wang, Hongling Zhang, Tong Jiang () and Jing Yang
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Aiwei Li: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Shuyuan Gao: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Miaoni Gao: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Xueqing Wang: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Hongling Zhang: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Tong Jiang: Institute for Disaster Risk Management, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Jing Yang: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: To consolidate the achievements in the elimination of absolute poverty in China and prevent rural populations from returning to poverty as a result of meteorological disasters, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of rainstorms and droughts and their socioeconomic impacts on China’s contiguous poverty-stricken areas (CPSAs) from 1984 to 2019. The annual number of rainstorms and drought days in CPSAs of China reached approximately 1.9 days/year and 44.6 days/year, respectively. It gradually decreased from southeast to northwest. Rainstorms showed a significant increasing trend of 0.075 days/decade, while there is no significant trend in drought days. Due to rainstorms and droughts, the average annual number of people affected and direct economic losses in CPSAs reached 34 million people/year and 29 billion Chinese yuan/year, accounting for 22.9% and 12.6% of China’s total amounts, respectively. The average annual loss rate due to disasters in this region reached 1.6%, which is 0.6% higher than the national level. Furthermore, the distinct features and socioeconomic impacts of rainstorms and droughts were identified on the southeastern and northwestern sides of the population density line (PDL) along Tengchong-Aihui in China. Droughts have often impacted the regions located along the PDL, while rainstorms and droughts have occurred more frequently in the regions to the southeast of the PDL than in the regions to the northwest of the PDL. As a result, the affected population and direct economic losses due to rainstorms and droughts in the regions to the southeast of the PDL were 8.8 and 9.2 times and 3.3 and 7.4 times higher, respectively, than those in the regions on the other side of the PDL. Although the losses were greater, the disaster resistance capabilities were significantly improved in these regions. In contrast, the regions to the northwest side of the PDL exhibited a significant increasing trend in losses with a relatively low disaster resistance capabilities. This study revealed that it is necessary to improve the capability of meteorological disaster prevention and reduction in China’s CPSAs, especially in the regions to the west of the PDL, which could further contribute to the realization of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Keywords: contiguous poverty-stricken areas; rainstorms and droughts; direct economic losses; disaster-affected population (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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