In the wake of the Wenchuan earthquake: the function of story-sharing in rebuilding communities in the quake disaster zone

Abstract

In May 2008, a massive earthquake of 8.0 on the Richter scale struck China's Sichuan Province. This study investigated survivors' communication practices in two communities in Beichuan during summer 2009, focusing on survivors' sharing of earthquake stories, which was a pervasive phenomenon in those communities. Four major purposes were identified in quake survivors' narratives: (1) memorializing loved ones and the past, (2) clarifying conflicting emotions, (3) reappraising reality and life values, and (4) rebuilding community. This study suggests that sharing such stories serves a therapeutic purpose that helps survivors of earthquakes and similar natural disasters cope with negative experiences and emotions, and to rebuild their communities.

Bam 2003 earthquake disaster: On the earthquake risk perception, resilience and earthquake culture – Cultural beliefs and cultural landscape of Qanats, gardens of Khorma trees and Argh-e Bam

“…emphasis on the context, rich insiders' views, and comparative perspective is highly recommended to be employed within disaster studies [1]. Moreover, within the studies of earthquake disasters, narratives of survivors have an important contribution [22,61].…”

“…The second grade and other far grade relatives or friends and neighbours were not counted, as the death number was very high. Narratives or stories are omnipresent in the life of communities and society [63,64] and have an essential contribution toward survivors' coping capacity within the dramatic post-earthquake situation [61]. As a method for the analysis of Bam earthquake disaster' survivors' narratives, the thematic analysis was used.…”

Chinese Post80s Generational Resilience: Chengyu (成语) as Communicative Resources for Adaptation and Change

“…The communicative perspective situates resilience in human interaction constituted by discursive and material resources (Buzzanell, 2018). Studies of human resilience suggest that the processes through which people (re)integrate and transform difficulties often coincide with what is meaningful to them within the sociocultural and communication infrastructures of their communities (Aldrich & Meyer, 2015;Buzzanell, 2010;Houston, Spialek, Cox, Greenwood, & First, 2015;Xu, 2013). Although past research depicted human resilience as atypical, scholars and practitioners now regard resilience as everyday processes (Afifi & Keith, 2004;Bonanno, 2004;Buzzanell, 2010Buzzanell, , 2018Long et al, 2015).…”

“…Resilience processes happen in the moment but also develop productive discursive and material patterns for the future (Long et al, 2015;Lucas & Buzzanell, 2012;Villagran, Canoza, & Ledford, 2013;Wilson & Gettings, 2012). These anticipatory processes are captured in memories invoked by particular materialities (e.g., foods distributed during economic downturns, see Lucas & Buzzanell, 2011), in narratives (e.g., post-Wenchuan earthquake story sharing, see Xu, 2013), in phrases aligned with identity anchors and community values (Lucas & Buzzanell, 2004;Villagran et al, 2013), and in perceived meaningfulness of actions and events (e.g., "calling" among Chinese students, see Zhang, Dik, Wei, & Zhang, 2015). Language (e.g., memorable messages, occupational stories, and colloquiums) provides root metaphors and stories that help people create new normals, construct identities, and foreground productive action (Buzzanell, 2010; see also Agarwal & Buzzanell, 2015;Lucas & Buzzanell, 2004.…”

“…A few scholars have studied resilience processes of Chinese youth and children (Stewart & Sun, 2007), victims of natural disasters (Xu, 2013), marginalized members such as farmers in degrading ecological environments (Van Haaften, Yu, & Van De Vijver, 2004), and urban migrant workers (Wong & Song, 2008). These studies focus on individual's sensemaking about adversity and what she or he perceives to be behavioral options for resilience processes in China.…”