Disaster response in China, dominated by the state, is gradually being driven by society. Coordinated large-scale disaster response by bottom-up social forces, however, did not emerge until the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.

After a decade of development, a non-governmental relief sector has emerged with substantial capacity to not only respond to the specific needs of the affected population, but also facilitate cross-sectoral coordination and knowledge sharing among a broad scope of relevant actors.

… Lin Peng, PhD, is a research fellow at Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, Guangzhou, China. Fengshi Wuis an Associate Professor at the China Programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A fuller version of this commentary will be published in the forthcoming issue of the China Quarterly.

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