How do rural households adapt to multiple natural hazards in disaster-prone areas? A case study of the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area, China

Households in earthquake-stricken areas are more prone to multiple natural disasters. Although rural households' various coping and adaptation strategies have been reported worldwide, a research gap still exists regarding the multilevel drivers of adopted strategies, which hampers the efficiency of related policy making. Based on 401 household questionnaires in Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, this study analyzed rural households' distinctive coping strategies during the pre-disaster, during-disaster, and post-disaster stages of multiple secondary disasters. Then a complete two-layer linear model was applied to examine the mechanisms driving different coping strategies during the three disparate stages. The results show that (1) farm households exhibited more diverse post-disaster adaptation strategies, moderate preparing strategies before disasters, and more conservative during-disaster coping approaches. (2) Household-layer factors such as natural, physical, and financial capital significantly influenced pre-disaster strategies, whereas physical capital, social capital, and disasterrelated factors significantly impacted the during-disaster strategies. Human, financial, and social capital directly influenced resistance to risks and thus post-disaster decisions. (3) Villagelayer factors like topographical conditions, transportation accessibility, and disaster training significantly influence coping strategies by impacting households' livelihood capital and disaster awareness. Based on these findings, the study proposes some policy measures for improving households' coping and adaptation abilities to natural disasters at different stages. While contributing to the understanding of rural households' distinctive coping strategies to multiple secondary disasters in the Wenchuan earthquake-stricken area, the findings can also inform targeted policy making to improve disaster risk management capabilities in disaster-prone areas worldwide.