5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake Recovery Government Policies and Non-Governmental Organizations' Participation

This article studies government policies for the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake recovery and NGOs’ participation in recovery. It is shown that the recovery was characteristic of strong central government control and weak participation by NGOs. This is probably due to China’s centralized political system, the central government’s control of the majority of national revenue and limited political space for the growth of NGOs in China. We recommend that China’s disaster recovery should emphasize the partnership between governments and NGOs. We also suggest China’s governments to promote the development of NGOs and social workers to advocate the importance of social recovery after disasters. An earlier version of this article was presented at 2009 International Conference on Disaster Management and Social Work: Policy, Practice and Research, Taipei, Taiwan, December 1415, 2009.