Joint disaster relief: the Chinese civilian rescue teams’ response to the 2021 Henan flood

Chinese civilian rescue teams (CRTs) emergency response to major disasters in China has effectively complemented national and regional government emergency management systems. However, there has been little research into the CRT’s functions or their joint disaster relief procedures. This study employed in-depth interviews and social network analysis to investigate the CRTs’ functions and joint disaster relief response procedures during the 2021 Henan flood disaster emergency. It was found that the CRTs had a five-stage emergency response procedure and varied emergency response roles, with the main emergency support functions being search and rescue people and rescue supply transfers and distribution. During joint relief operations, government departments, the coordination center, public institutions, and foundations interact with CRTs in terms of information, personnel and resources; the coordination center was the main information bridge between the CRTs, the local government, and the other relief actors. As the CRTs were bottom-up participants, when they arrived at the disaster site, they were incorporated into the government-led, top-down command-based disaster relief system. Two CRT joint rescue operations were identified: joint rescue alliances in the same region and same brand joint rescue alliances. The results provide information for possible future policies on CRT regulation and development and the integration of CRTs into multi-organizational disaster and emergency response plans.