Farmland Destroyed by Natural Hazards in China: Spatio-temporal Pattern and IntegratedPrevention and Treatment System

This paper analyzes the spatio-temporal pattern of farmland destroyed by natural hazards (FDNH) in China, using land-use data and socio-economic data from the Ministry of Land and Resources and the National Bureau of Statistics of China, respectively, and the ESRI's ArcGIS spatial analyst module. An index of destroyed rate of farmland due to natural hazards (DRFNH) was established to assess the regional anti-disaster capacity. The outcomes indicated that China's FDNH amounted to 1.662 million ha during 1988-2008, and the direct grain loss reached 6.055 million tonnes. In general, with the gradual improvement in agricultural anti-disaster capacity, both the DRFNH and area of FDNH in China has been declining in the last two decades. The area of FDNH was universally large and the DRFNH was relatively high at the national level during 1988-1998, but the DRFNH and the area of FDNH took on an obvious declining trend during 1999-2008 due to the improvement of agricultural production conditions and the implementation of building new countryside strategy. Then, this paper established an integrated prevention and treatment system of China's FDNH, which includes the aspects of assessment of natural disaster risk and FDNH status quo, reconstruction for regional anti-disaster facilities, FDNH rehabilitation, disaster early warning system, and improving relevant organization and management