ABSTRACT
Busy readers may wish to focus their attention on this chapter, in which everyone have selected models of recovery as the best at simplifying complexity down to its essential elements and showing the most important connections between related factors. Model formulation is a dynamic process for, as new insights occur, each model needs to be adapted. In the case study of the Wenchuan earthquake recovery, progress is assessed particularly in relation to the physical recovery of buildings and settlements. The value of the Kates and Pijawka recovery model lies in its representation of variables that express the duration of recovery namely level of development, availability of resources and degree of organisation. Development recovery model deals with resilience and needs to be considered together with model 11, 'resilient communities and settlements'. The value of cost-effectiveness model lies in its representation of the escalating unit costs of the phases of recovery in relation to the passage of time.
