Study on the Attention of Flood Disaster Management Policy in China: Based on the Text Analysis of 325 Central Policies

Abstract

Flood disasters are among the most frequent and destructive natural hazards in China, making flood prevention and mitigation a persistent issue critical to national security and development. From the perspective of policy attention and through the lens of punctuated equilibrium theory, this study examines the evolution of governmental policy focus on flood governance. Utilizing Python, we conduct high-frequency word identification, co-word analysis, and keyword clustering on 325 policy documents from 1949 to 2024. The findings reveal that China’s flood governance policy has evolved through four distinct stages: initial exploration, steady development, deepening adjustment, and consolidation with innovation. The government’s attention priorities varied significantly across these periods, with the Ministry of Water Resources playing a key role in promoting policy transformation and upgrading. In terms of attention allocation, flood control has remained a consistent thread throughout the policy process, water conservancy projects have served as the primary means of combating floods, and science and technology have emerged as the fundamental driver of systemic modernization in flood governance. Looking ahead, aligned with the goals of modernizing the national security system and governance capacity, China should adhere to a green, technology-driven, and rule-of-law-based approach to flood governance. Guided by the requirements of ecological civilization, it is essential to actively explore modern technological applications in governance and strengthen the legal framework for water management, thereby fostering high-quality development in flood disaster governance.