A three-staged framework for measuring water supply resilience in rural China based on PLS-SEM

Area of Science:

• Civil Engineering
• Disaster Management
• Environmental Science

Background:

• China faces frequent large-scale earthquakes, significantly impacting rural water supply systems (RWSS).
• Assessing the seismic resilience of RWSS is complex due to time- and space-dependent factors.
• Existing methods struggle to comprehensively measure RWSS earthquake resilience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a multi-stage, comprehensive evaluation framework for assessing the seismic resilience of rural water supply systems in China.
• To identify and analyze multi-dimensional factors influencing RWSS resilience before, during, and after earthquake events.
• To provide a causal understanding of RWSS resilience to inform disaster preparedness and management.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multi-stage evaluation conceptual framework.
• Identification and analysis of seismic resilience factors.
• Verification of factor-stage relationships using triangulation: quantitative PLS-SEM and qualitative literature analysis.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive evaluation framework for RWSS seismic resilience was developed.
• Key multi-dimensional factors influencing RWSS resilience across different disaster stages were identified.
• The causal relationships between these factors and RWSS resilience were confirmed.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework enhances understanding of RWSS seismic resilience in rural China.
• Identifying factors allows authorities to leverage strengths and address weaknesses for improved disaster resilience.
• This research supports better resilience practices for RWSS throughout all disaster stages.