Older adults in disaster contexts are often thought of as a passive, vulnerable population that lacks agency and capacities to cope in the aftermath. However, it can be argued that older adults may have underrecognized strengths that can be utilized pre-, peri-, and post-disaster. One of these strengths is older adults’ unique social capital that stems from long-standing connections with other members of their respective communities. Using data from in-depth, semistructured interviews with farmers in British Columbia 3–11 months after the 2021 floods, this research explored the experiences of older adult farmers’ recovery. The farmers discussed how they leveraged their social capital to aid in their recovery efforts from the flood event. By using their bonding social capital, older adult farmers transformed their existing, deep-rooted connections into post-disaster assistance. This, in turn, generated the idea of the therapeutic community, helping community members cope in the aftermath. This research indicated the need to further examine how older adults in disaster settings can be viewed as assets with community knowledge and skills as opposed to solely as a vulnerable population.
1 Introduction
The upward trajectory of disasters at the global level (ADRC 2023; IPCC 2023; CRED 2024; NCEI 2024) coupled with a rapidly aging global population (World Health Organization 2022) has generated a large proportion of the global community that can be vulnerable and disproportionately impacted by disasters. This older adult population faces age-based health issues, limited mobility, and intersections with their other social identities such as race, gender, cultural values, and economic status (Pendergrast et al. 2021; see also Kwan and Walsh 2017, for a review). Taken together, these social and health determinants resulted in contemporary disaster studies framing older adults as among the most vulnerable to disaster impacts (Aldrich and Benson 2008; Cherry et al. 2010; Ngo 2001, 2012; Peek 2013).
Alongside health, mobility, and other intersecting identity-based determinants, older adults may also be considered vulnerable to disaster impacts due to lower amounts of social capital (Klinenberg 2003; Meyer 2017). A critical disaster science theoretical perspective, social capital, explores the phenomena of collective action and generation of therapeutic communities—where individuals and communities collaborate to support one another in disaster response, short-term reconstruction, and long-term recovery (Aldrich 2012; Aldrich and Meyer 2015). Prior research has highlighted that older adults may experience lower social capital because of diminishing social ties (Meyer 2017; Pendergrast et al. 2021), which could elongate recovery processes and stagnate resilience. Yet, the community-based networks, knowledge, and connections that older adults have can significantly form collective action and contribute to therapeutic communities (Wu 2020).
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Due to much of the disaster social science research framing older adults as vulnerable, there is a distinct deficit regarding examinations of older adults’ agency, experience, and contributions during times of disaster. In addition, understanding how older adults can contribute in disaster settings using a social capital lens remains unclear. Centering on the 2021 catastrophic flooding in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada, which devastated local farming communities’ infrastructure, agriculture, and livelihoods (Cecco 2021; Fraser Valley Current Staff 2021; Kassam 2021; Mangione 2021; Raman-Wilms 2021; Schmunk 2021), this qualitative study explored older adult farmers’ efforts in community-based emergency response and post-flood reconstruction. Further, because Canada has been experiencing heightened rates of both aging and climate change compared to global averages, this study contributes a unique perspective to research on older adults, social capital, and disasters. Finally, we conceptualize this study within the literature on social capital, disasters, and older adults to gain insight into the contributions older adults make toward collective action and therapeutic communities during and after the floods.
2 Literature Review
This section outlines the previous literature conducted on older adults in disaster settings, therapeutic communities, and social capital—both as a concept and within disasters. The literature reviewed in this section was largely driven by an inductive qualitative approach wherein the literature was not gathered until after the thematic categories were derived from the data collected. First, we provide an overview of the literature on older adults in disaster settings. Next, we examine social capital, beginning with a sociological perspective on social capital theory and then moving to how this theory is useful in disaster settings. Finally, we briefly discuss therapeutic communities in post-disaster settings before posing our research questions.
2.1 Older Adults and Disasters
Within the disaster social sciences, older adults are often described as being among the most vulnerable populations in disaster contexts (Bolin and Klenow 1983; Ngo 2001, 2012; Kim and Zakour 2017; Meyer 2017; Lee et al. 2022). Indeed, much of the current research focuses on the increased vulnerability of older adults in disasters (Phifer 1990; Cherry et al. 2010; Tuohy and Stephens 2011; Campbell 2019). This vulnerability—or, differently stated, disproportionate impact—is often due to declining physical and mental health, reduced mobility, and limited economic resources (Pendergrast et al. 2021). For example, Heagele and Pacquiao (2019) described numerous determinants of vulnerability within older adult populations. The authors noted that in their review of related literature, mobility, cognitive, and sensory deficits could impede evacuation and disrupt the understanding of warning messaging (Heagele and Pacquiao 2019). Thus, older adults are more likely to be injured or to perish in a disaster and recover more slowly after a disaster (Henderson et al. 2010; Lee et al. 2022).
Many older adults may also experience isolation, living alone with limited social contacts, and this lack of social capital impacts their survival and well-being during a disaster (Meyer 2017). For example, in Klinenberg’s (2003) “social autopsy” of Chicago following the 1995 heatwave, he found that isolated older adults were less likely to be rescued or receive assistance during this prolonged disaster. Furthermore, after the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, many older adults could not evacuate to shelters due to their health conditions and lack of information (Aldrich and Sawada 2015). Meyer (2017) surveyed and interviewed older adults from two Florida counties and found that the participants reported fewer social ties. This disparity in social ties was especially pronounced regarding monetary assistance following disasters, compounding other vulnerabilities for older adults (Meyer 2017). Lack of social capital intensifies age-related vulnerabilities in disaster settings (Meyer 2017; Lee et al. 2022).
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While older adults have been generally regarded as among society’s most vulnerable, they also exhibit characteristics that highlight their strengths in disaster settings, especially regarding enhancing disaster resilience. Their capacities in disasters include their resilience and unique social capital.
Older adults are not monolithic as a population and can serve as assets to their communities in disaster settings as opposed to being seen solely as vulnerable. In an Australian study, Howard et al. (2017) found that older adults had extensive experience within their communities that translated into preparedness and management action for future disaster events. Experience with disasters was a common thread throughout the study as older adults also described that previous experience helped them to comprehensively understand their vulnerabilities and how that may affect future disaster impacts (Howard et al. 2017). Furthermore, in narrative-driven research with older adults, Tuohy and Stephens (2011) described one participant who—even while in a rest home—was considered an asset as they shared prior experience with floods in the area with emergency personnel. Finally, research has examined the distinct resilience capacities of older adults in disaster settings (Kwan and Walsh 2017; Campbell 2019; Timalsina and Songwathana 2020; Pendergrast et al. 2021). Both Kwan and Walsh (2017) and Timalsina and Songwathana (2020) conducted detailed reviews on resilience and older adults in disasters. Both reviews identified factors that could enhance resilience such as previous disaster experience and social support (Kwan and Walsh 2017; Timalsina and Songwathana 2020).
As mentioned earlier, older adults may experience isolation as they age, resulting in a constricted social circle and diminished social capital. However, older adults could also have longstanding connections and could benefit from social capital in disaster settings (Henderson et al. 2010; Aldrich and Sawada 2015; Lee et al. 2022). Older adults tend to leverage their bonding social capital in disaster contexts using close relationships and strong ties to family, friends, and neighbors. For example, it has been shown that for disaster and emergency preparedness, informal support and community connectedness are important for older adults and their households (Tuohy and Stephens 2011; Howard et al. 2017; Kim and Zakour 2017). Similar social capital benefits for older adults are seen in the later stages of the disaster cycle as well. Following the 2011 and 2013 floods in Brisbane, Australia, and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, social capital was able to address both the practical and psychological needs of older adults while protecting their emotional health and allowing them to cope with stress (Brockie and Miller 2017, p. 76; see also Henderson et al. 2010).
We have outlined how older adults have been generally viewed as passive and vulnerable to disaster impacts and described the agency, contributions, knowledge, and resilience older adults can exhibit. A key component of their strengths is social capital. The following sections detail social capital broadly and within the context of disaster studies to theoretically frame the present study that examined the use of social capital by older adult farmers during a disaster.
2.2 Social Capital
Social capital has been a substantial area of interest in the social sciences (Moody and Paxton 2009) and there has been a wide range of applications for social capital in numerous disciplines (Jackman and Miller 1998; Portes 1998; Putnam 2000; Lee and Jones 2008; Makridis and Wu 2021), however, there is not a single, fixed definition for the concept (Aldrich and Meyer 2015). For the purposes of this article, we adopt Pierre Bourdieu’s definition and conceptualization of social capital:
The aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition—or in other words, to membership in a group—which provides each of its members with the backing of the collectively-owned capital, a “credential” which entitles them to credit, in the various senses of the word. (Bourdieu 1986, p. 21)
Bourdieu’s idea of social capital is derived from the idea that it is a resource based on the social networks and connections that one is a member of. Importantly, social capital may also include negative externalities beyond the positive impacts. For example, the strong ties that bind groups may lead to exclusion, discrimination, and the othering of those outside of the in-group (Portes and Landolt 1996; Lin 2000; Murphy 2007).
Beyond Bourdieu’s (1986) conceptualization of social capital, further distinctions have been made to understand the concept at a deeper level, resulting in three dimensions: bonding, bridging, and linking social capital (Woolcock and Narayan 2000; Szreter and Woolcock 2004; Claridge 2018). Bonding social capital reflects Granovetter’s (1973) concept of strong ties, which also describes close relationships with family and friends. Bonding social capital or strong ties have high levels of similarity (for example, similar social-psychological characteristics and lifestyle) and typically provide the same kind of information and resources (Putnam 2000). For most individuals, bonding social capital is the most common source of social resources (Aldrich and Meyer 2015), and the resources provided by strong ties can play an important role in emotional support (Lin 1982). Meanwhile, bridging social capital describes loose connections with “extralocal networks, crossing ethnic, racial, and religious cleavages” (Aldrich 2012, p. 32; see also Szreter and Woolcock 2004; Small 2010) and linking social capital refers to vertical connections (Aldrich 2012; Kyne and Aldrich 2020) that consist of “networks of trusting relationships between people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized power or authority gradients in society” (Szreter and Woolcock 2004, p. 655; see also Woolcock 2001, 2002). Indeed, these dimensions have spanned the social sciences (see, for example, Patulny and Svendsen 2007), especially disaster social science.
2.2.1 Social Capital in Disaster Studies
Social capital as a concept has grown in use in disaster studies over the last several years (see, for example, Tierney 2014, 2019; Meyer 2018). Within a disaster context, social capital is seen throughout the entire disaster cycle including mitigation (Purba et al. 2022), preparedness (Sadeka et al. 2015), response (Dynes 2002), and recovery (Aldrich 2012). Further, social capital is especially relevant in disasters due to the importance of “collective action, cooperation, and the therapeutic community that disaster researchers have highlighted since the earliest studies” (Meyer 2018, p. 263). Because social capital plays an integral role in disasters, “disaster social capital” has been conceptualized to note how social capital in disasters may look different from non-disaster periods as existing social capital may not be fully accessible in disasters (Uekusa et al. 2022).
Aside from the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of social capital in disaster studies, empirical research has shown that social capital plays a crucial role in post-disaster recovery (Nakagawa and Shaw 2004; Joshi and Aoki 2014; Delilah Roque et al. 2020). In Aldrich’s (2012) research in four communities that experienced disaster—Tokyo after the 1923 earthquake, Kobe following the 1995 earthquake, Tamil Nadu after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005—he found that social capital provided the affected population with information, financial help, assistance, and emotional support and facilitated a more successful disaster recovery (Aldrich 2012). Further, it has also been found that social capital can play a role in policy implementation, as it could influence individuals’ willingness to use government resources allocated for disaster recovery (Joshi and Aoki 2014).
The three dimensions of social capital play different roles in disaster response and recovery (Hawkins and Maurer 2010). As discussed above, bonding social capital is the primary and most common source of social resources and support for most individuals and allows people to receive immediate aid and initial recovery support in a disaster (Hawkins and Maurer 2010; Aldrich and Meyer 2015). Indeed, bonding social capital is often seen through tight-knit relationships and bonds such as family, friends, and neighbors (Woolcock and Narayan 2000). This was exemplified following the 1995 Kobe earthquake, as many survivors were rescued by family, friends, and neighbors before trained professionals arrived (Aldrich 2012). Further, bonding social capital provides avenues to various forms of support during disaster recovery, such as information dissemination and rescue assistance, among other supports in post-disaster recovery (Aldrich and Meyer 2015; Hsueh 2019).
Bridging and linking social capital influences the recovery process (Aldrich and Meyer 2015); however, these types of social capital could have potential downsides due to populations being excluded from networks (Portes and Landolt 1996; Murphy 2007; Aldrich 2011; Panday et al. 2021). Aldrich (2011) found that, compared with communities with only bonding social capital, those with both bonding and linking social capital obtained more external support and aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which sped up their recovery process. Yet, it is critical to acknowledge the negative externalities of social capital, such as discrimination against those not within social networks, which can act as a barrier to receiving resources and impact recovery (Aldrich 2011). Murphy (2007) also commented on the negative externalities of social capital noting that cohesion and trust within groups might not translate between groups as those labeled as outsiders can be treated as “others” and excluded from the social capital of the in-group. These negative externalities can prohibit community and community member resilience that stems from broad community engagement and diverse perspectives (Murphy et al. 2014).
This section has outlined how social capital within disaster contexts is a key component in building community resilience. The strengthening of social ties builds what is known as “therapeutic communities” following a natural hazard and subsequent disaster.
2.2.2 Therapeutic Communities
Social capital has a strong connection to another disaster-related concept—therapeutic communities. Contrasted with technological hazards that often evoke a “corrosive community” (see, for example, Gill and Picou 1998; Gill 2007), natural hazards and resulting disasters result in a therapeutic or altruistic community response, which provides positive effects for individuals and communities post-disaster (Barton 1970; Phillips 2015). Indeed, as Phillips (2015, p. 362) notes, “the core of the therapeutic community seems to be caring.” As such, therapeutic communities are “rich in social capital as people come together to reaffirm social bonds and support each other in a time of crisis” (Gill 2007, p. 619). Further, as social capital is ingrained within the fabric of therapeutic communities and their formation, residents can see their communities positively impacted (Phillips 2015) by generating a sense of belonging, making collective actions possible, and making the community more resilient (Hsueh 2019; Lee et al. 2022; Liu et al. 2022). Indeed, trust built through social capital has been shown to expedite the recovery process and facilitate strong collective action in post-disaster situations (Nakagawa and Shaw 2004; Aldrich and Sawada 2015).
Social capital—both in general and when housed within therapeutic communities—is a critical resource in disasters. For historically marginalized groups and populations that are disproportionately impacted by disasters, social capital can be even more vital as their unique communities can be an avenue to acquire the resources necessary for effective post-disaster recovery when they are often excluded from larger social structures. This can play a role in building the aforementioned therapeutic community. Older adults are generally considered to be among the most vulnerable to disaster impacts, which has resulted in a lack of examination into their agency, unique experiences, and contributions during times of disaster. Therefore, this study is framed to examine how their social capital can be viewed as an asset in disaster response and recovery. To demonstrate the unique social capital-based assets older adults expend in disasters, we used the case of older adult farmers during the 2021 British Columbia floods to ask the following research questions: (1) how did older adult farmers experience the 2021 floods in British Columbia; and (2) how did older adult farmers contribute to the recovery process post-flood?
3 Method
The 2021 British Columbia (B.C.) floods (14 November–17 December 2021) have had catastrophic influences on both human beings and their co-inhabitants in Fraser Valley—especially farm animal owners, farm animals, and local farmers’ agricultural livelihoods (Thibault 2021). The Fraser Valley, one of Canada’s most intensively and diversely farmed areas, hosts more than 1200 dairy, poultry, and hog farms, providing 50% of dairy, egg, and poultry products for 5.2 million B.C. residents (Fraser Valley Regional District 2017; Kassam 2021; Statistics Canada 2021). These animal farm owners, who are third-, fourth-, and even fifth-generation farmers, have built firm attachments with their animals, land, and rural farming communities (Raman-Wilms 2021). The most recent data show that the livestock death toll during the flooding was 628,000 poultry, 12,000 hogs, and 420 cows (Mangione 2021), resulting in the devastating “back to zero” status for many animal farms in Fraser Valley (Woo and Hui 2021). One month after the floods, a quick response project was developed to examine the animal farmers’ experiences of the B.C. Floods in the Fraser Valley, especially their emergency response and post-flood recovery through in-depth, semistructured interviews. This project was approved by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Ethics Board at Dalhousie University (Certificate #: 2021-5951). The data used to develop this article were drawn from this quick response project.
3.1 Research Participants
The data in this article came from a larger project that focused broadly on animal farmers affected by the B.C. floods in the Fraser Valley. However, as we will note further in the data analysis section, we chose to analyze data from farmers who are classified as older adults—in this case, those who are 55 years of age or older. Our sampling strategy included two distinct types of non-probability sampling. First, we used purposive sampling to identify key informants within the community—in this case, the Fraser Valley community that flooded. This allowed us to gain a holistic understanding of the topic of interest (Etikan et al. 2016) and find people who could speak directly to the post-flood experience (Bernard 2017). We circulated our project poster through diverse resources, such as community centers, social media, and professional organizations’ networks. This purposeful recruitment approach enabled us to identify the key informants and knowledge holders by targeting individuals and communities with specific knowledge on the subject of animal farms and the Fraser Valley flooding. Then we used snowball sampling that allowed us to leverage the farmers’ social networks and community connections to identify more participants who fit the target population (Biernacki and Waldorf 1981; Atkinson and Flint 2001). Each of the interviewees was asked to refer to other farmers affected by the floods who might be interested in participating.
We identified a total of 26 farmers as potential participants and among them, 17 accepted the interview invitation. The interviewees operated different types of animal farms, including cow, pig, chicken, and duck. The interviews took place between March 2022 and November 2022 (approximately 3 to 11 months after the floods), conducted by two research assistants with a psychology background. Among the 17 interviewees, more than half (9 interviewees) were over the age of 55, while only 4 were under the age of 40. The interview sample included 4 women and 13 men, but one-third of the older adult farmers were women (3 women, 6 men). It is important to note that while the focus of this article is on the older adult participants, all interviews were coded and analyzed to ensure that the findings presented within this analysis were discussed by the older adults, specifically, rather than the farmers as a collective. Additional demographic information was limited in order to properly protect participant privacy and confidentiality.
3.2 Interview Guide and Analysis
We used a semistructured interview guide that allowed interviewers to gather comparable data from each participant while simultaneously providing space for elaboration or new information (Hesse-Biber 2017). The final interview guide included 13 open-ended questions about the participants’ farm and family farming history (How long have you operated your animal farm?), their experience regarding evacuation messaging (for example, How did you hear about the flood alert? How did you feel about the alert?), and lesson learned (for example, What lessons or takeaways would you like to share for other farm animal owners who may experience a similar disaster evacuation in the future?) The telephone-based interviews ranged from approximately 15 to 55 minutes; however, most interviews ranged from 35 to 45 minutes.
All the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and cleaned by two researchers with social science training backgrounds (economics, sociology, and social work). During transcription, each participant was provided with a pseudonym to protect their identities. The interview transcripts were analyzed through a three-step process using NVivo 12 qualitative data analysis software to identify overarching thematic categories in the interviews. The first step in the analysis process was conducting line-by-line and in vivo coding for each of the interviews. Two researchers independently conducted the initial line-by-line codes. The third researcher was engaged in coordinating their discussion to review intercoder reliability. Following the initial, open coding, the second step was to conduct axial coding (Saldaña 2021) by placing the initial codes into larger theoretical categories that were identified during the first step of coding. At this stage, we began engaging with social capital theory. This process was completed by the two researchers who conducted the initial interview coding. Finally, the third researcher grouped the axial codes into final overarching theoretical categories. During this stage, the codes specific to discussions of social capital were examined by participant ID numbers to determine whether these discussions were unique to older adult farmers. During this examination, it was determined that older adult farmers overwhelmingly discussed social capital and the benefits of connection to their communities.
4 Results
The Fraser Valley flooding that took place in British Columbia in 2021 had widespread impacts on residents across the region (see Fraser Valley Current Staff 2021). Farming and agricultural communities, specifically, endured difficulties due to the effects of the disaster on their homes, workplaces, and livelihoods. This section details one of the major thematic elements that was derived from narrative data that were collected from farmers who experienced the flooding—how older adult farmers leveraged their social capital during and after the disaster. The results point to how these older adults have agency and unique strengths that provide support during and in the aftermath of the floods. Further, these findings demonstrate how the older adult farmers’ social capital is a key component of the concept of a therapeutic community during the post-flood period.
4.1 Older Adult Farmers’ Social Capital
Although we interviewed farmers of all ages for the larger project, the discussions of the critical social networks between farmers and the community at large were extremely pronounced among those who were classified as older adults. The older adult farmers often spoke about the deep-rooted connections within their communities—from neighbors and friends to the overarching dairy or other farming associations. J.R., a 59 year-old farmer, highlighted the social networks that were prevalent among his community:
We all stayed in contact with each other and if somebody needed help or whatever I went over. I helped a fella because he had passed by our area… so I went over there and helped him out. And yeah, it’s not like we’re close friends or whatever. But I mean, you knew each other, you were acquaintances or whatever from the past. And, you know, everyone kind of hung together.
Here, J.R. is describing several aspects of the way his social capital came to fruition during the aftermath of the floods. He described the informal networking for help that took place between him and an acquaintance who was passing by, which was based on the previously existing social bonds due to time spent within the farming community. He also noted that people within the community were in contact with one another through a more formalized set-up of contacting each other to request or offer help.
This established social capital was echoed by Barry, a 62 year-old farmer who described how his connections were a major part of the flood response and recovery period:
People were phoning one of my neighbors—he’s a [farmer and business owner]. Anyway, some people were calling him, “okay, where do we go to pick up cattle?” And then once they had a load of bull, “where do we go now to drop them off?” So, people, farms were phoning this individual, people wanted to help. And so what happened was that morning, we did make a call to a friend and asked if we can bring cattle there, just kind of still not really believing we would ever have to. But when the full-blown crisis hit my cattle all ended up going to a farm that half his barn was empty.
April, a 55 year-old farmer described similar social capital:
I had started phoning restaurants that I’m familiar with, that I know the owners and everything. We got food… for a month. Once a week for a month. And then I lowered it [working at the food hub] to six days a week because it was going to just burn me out… and I had all these other people that could come and help me on certain days. So that worked out good.
Both Barry and April described the social capital that they had prior to the flooding that they experienced. For Barry, it was his relationship with his neighbor who had additional connections within the community through his farming and businesses that could provide space for bulls and cattle that needed to be evacuated from flooded barns. In Barry’s case, his social capital offered protection for him and his livelihood. Although he mentions that at first he never thought he would have needed to mobilize his accrued capital, once the disaster happened, the social capital provided an option for him and his farm. April utilized her social capital in a slightly different way—she transformed her social capital with local business owners and community members into economic capital to provide food for those who were impacted. By transforming her social capital into economic capital, April was able to garner further social capital within the community by building new connections with new volunteers during the flood recovery process.
Each of the highlighted quotes from older adult farmers demonstrates the types of social capital that they possessed prior to the 2021 floods. For J.R., it was his connections with his neighbors, Barry had a connection with a friend who had a wide-ranging social network, and April had long-standing connections with neighbors, business owners, and community members that were then mobilized.
4.2 Transforming Social Capital to Assistance
Older adult farmers living in the areas that were impacted by the floods often described their farms as generational, noting that they had been a part of the community for decades—in some cases growing up on the farms that they now operate. Through this time in the community—as shown in the previous theme—they have been able to build substantial social capital through their networks and long-standing connections with others in the farming community. This results in transforming that social capital into assistance during flood response and recovery, building therapeutic communities commonly seen in post-environmental disaster settings. The quote from April in the previous section began to describe the assistance that was present due to this type of capital among older adult farmers. This section details further examples of how the farmers used their social capital to assist either themselves or others during and/or after the disaster and build a therapeutic community.
One example of leveraging social capital into assistance and therapeutic community building is explained by Thomas, a 67 year-old farmer, who described a neighbor-helping-neighbor form of social capital:
But mostly who helped us out were local farmers. They were the ones, local farmers and people with boats, those were the people that kind of got us back in and out… Our family, we were helping a farmer next door and we had to move his animals out. We had so many farmers around us, that were in way more traumatic experiences than we were, that lost their entire chicken farms, all their cows had perished in the flood… My two sons were helping a farmer that had to move his farm to another valley. They were driving off the yard every day, just to go help this other farmer.
Here, Thomas shared his experience that local community members were the people who assisted with going in and out of blockades to return to their farms. Furthermore, he described that his social capital with his neighbors and sons resulted in post-flood assistance by moving animals and relocating an entire farm. The transformation of social capital into tangible assistance after the disaster also strengthened the therapeutic community that was impacted. Thomas noted that other farmers—their neighbors and fellow community members—experienced more traumatic experiences, resulting in social capital-led assistance providing a therapeutic community bond for those who needed help.
We also spoke with a married couple, Ronald and Diane, who were older adult farmers who experienced the flood. They also explained how their social capital transformed into helping their neighbors and community members exhibiting a therapeutic community:
Diane: [Redacted] organized other clean-up efforts too, like when we had the field clean-up day in March. They put it out there saying that they had secured… the city of to pick up all the garbage. So we organized, for our—how many acres? 120 acres did we clean up?
Ronald: We cleaned up well over 100, 120, maybe 140.
Diane: So, we walked 120 acres and [redacted] sent out… groups of people and we walked 120 acres and picked up tyres and bins and boards. In our field, it was all ruined. We lost all our cover crop. And the blueberry farmers, the people that had the blueberry fields had it way worse than we did.
Ronald: So yeah, we did do a lot of clean-up on that day, we had probably 15 volunteers they came, plus our own family members came, and we loaded up a whole pile of stuff. Then the city came along on a Sunday with their garbage trucks and picked up all the stuff, great help.
Diane began by explaining how she and her husband’s social capital was exhibited through a friend of theirs in the community organizing clean-up efforts during the recovery process. These social connections were leveraged by contacting city officials, friends, and volunteers to establish post-disaster assistance in cleaning debris in the farmers’ fields and homes. This example results in a unique circumstance as Ronald and Diane were able to use their bonding social capital with a friend who had linking social capital, which expanded vertically to city government. This linking social capital resulted in the city providing garbage trucks for debris pick-up. Ronald added that even beyond the social capital built through friendships, acquaintances, and connections with the government, he and Diane were able to leverage their bonding social capital within their family by having their family members assist with the clean-up efforts. These sustained efforts of transforming social capital into post-disaster recovery assistance promoted the further establishment of a therapeutic community in the aftermath of disaster by bringing the community together to achieve a common goal of helping one another clean properties and farmland.
Ann, a 63 year-old farmer had a similar experience leveraging her bonding social capital into post-disaster recovery assistance to friends:
Well, there was a farm that is here in the Prairie, and they got flooded really, really badly. We knew those people for probably the last 30 years. So, my husband went there for probably a couple of weeks and helped them to pressure wash, to clean things up. And then I went along a few of the days and everything was caked in mud, and you could spend all day there washing and cleaning. In many situations, you’re on your own. And this is a couple that really worked hard. They had a lot of connections. So, in that way, they got their house restored in actually a very, very efficient timeline. And there were people there… that got heaters in there and the dehumidifiers and helped with the garbage and all those kinds of things.
In Ann’s account, she described personal friends of approximately 30 years who had their farm destroyed by the flood. Utilizing her social capital built from 30 years of friendship, Ann transformed that into assisting after the flood subsided. Interestingly, Ann described that there is often a sense of being left to your own devices in times of turmoil, dictating a distinct need for a larger, therapeutic community to lessen that personal burden. She went on to state that because of the social capital and existing connections and networks of their family friend, they were able to recover on a faster timeline.
Finally, when we spoke with Andrew, a 70 year-old farmer, he told us directly about how the delineation of social capital to flood assistance to strengthening therapeutic communities occurred within his network:
[The flood] really affected them, they were devastated by it. And they just didn’t know what to do. They had so much loss, and inconvenience you know. But the way I see it though, because of the support of the surrounding community, you know, the dairy farmers but others too. It helped them get through it, a lot and that’s continued throughout, throughout the whole even up till now, just recently, there was another, another meeting, or basically, a get-together of all those affected that were invited to come and just share experiences and support each other.
Andrew’s quote perfectly demonstrates the throughline that existed for many older adult farmers within his community—the farmers would leverage their existing social capital and networks into providing disaster response and disaster relief assistance to their neighbors and friends. This assistance, in turn, provided the foundation for strengthening the therapeutic communities of farmers in the post-disaster recovery phase. Andrew spoke directly to this by highlighting how individuals within his network were devastated by the flood; however, the community of farmers that they belonged to assisted them. This ultimately led to an enhanced therapeutic community as he described the get-togethers that offer support for fellow farmers and community members.
5 Discussion
In this research examining older adult farmers’ experiences following the 2021 British Columbia floods, we demonstrated their unique agency, assets, and capabilities exhibited through leveraging social capital into recovery assistance and strengthening their therapeutic community (Fig. 1). This research contributes to the literature deficit on the assets and strengths older adults have in the context of disasters, as opposed to being viewed solely as vulnerable, passive actors.
Fig. 1
Social capital use for post-disaster assistance and therapeutic communities
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During the 2021 British Columbia floods that impacted farmers across the Fraser Valley, the older adult farmers in our study described how their existing social capital came into play when dealing with the aftermath of the floods. Though previous research regarding older adults in disaster settings typecasts the population as vulnerable and perhaps isolated (Klinenberg 2003; Cherry et al. 2010; Meyer 2017; Pendergrast et al. 2021), our study identified that these farmers had a tight-knit community with longstanding social connections. These social connections among older adult farmers within the community exhibit Bourdieu’s concept of social capital (Bourdieu 1986) as well as further conceptualizations such as bonding social capital, which relates to the close ties individuals have such as family, friends, and neighbors (Woolcock and Narayan 2000; Claridge 2018).
Our findings were similar to those of Brockie and Miller (2017) in their study of Brisbane floods in the early 2010s. They identified that older adults valued the close networks of friends and family members that offered support during flood response and recovery (Brockie and Miller 2017). Further, Howard et al. (2017) also discussed that older adults in disaster settings utilized the connections they had with formal and informal networks—specifically those at a neighborhood level—to provide and receive resources and support across the disaster cycle. Finally, Tuohy and Stephens (2011) used older adult narratives to better understand their place in a flood disaster setting. Participants in their study also discussed their independence and agency, as well as one participant who noted the tight-knit network of care with the neighbors in the section of the street they resided on (Tuohy and Stephens 2011). The older adult farmers in our study described their networks as consisting of multiple levels of closeness, that is, family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. However, additional research must be conducted with older adults in disaster settings as some research indicated that older adults may have limited networks and social capital. For example, Meyer found that elderly respondents “perceived fewer social ties that they could rely on in extreme situations, especially for monetary needs” (Meyer 2017, p. 53). Meyer (2017) went on to note that the lack of perceived social capital could be because of diminishing networks due to increased age and homophily of networks. Similarly, Brockie and Miller (2017) found that some older adults in their study also had small networks due to being widowed or separated, which resulted in feelings of isolation.
Participants in our study not only mentioned that their social networks and existing bonding social capital were present during the post-flood recovery period, but it was also evident that the social capital led directly to post-disaster assistance. The older adult farmers discussed that they were able to leverage and transform their existing social capital into aid and assistance. Several of the older adults noted that it was the close ties with family, friends, and neighbors that were transformed into what Bourdieu might consider economic capital (Bourdieu 1986). Beyond the transformation of bonding social capital into post-disaster assistance, two of the participants described a unique instance of conversions between types of social capital before leveraging it into economic capital. Linking social capital typically describes an upward movement of social capital, linking individual actors to large-scale institutional sectors or entities to obtain their respective needs (Szreter and Woolcock 2004). In the case of Ronald and Diane’s discussion, they used their bonding social capital to connect with a friend who had the necessary linking social capital to the municipal government. This relationship resulted in the farmers receiving trucks from the government to facilitate disaster assistance, in this case, debris and garbage removal. The reliance on bonding social capital to access linking social capital has been under-researched. Limited research has shown similarities to our findings that older adults who want to access formal support such as government resources and insurance claims, rely heavily on their close family networks exemplified by bonding social capital (Brockie and Miller 2017). Much of the current research on older adults, disaster, and social capital focuses primarily on the reliance on the different forms of social capital as stand-alone entities rather than having the potential for interconnections, indicating the need for additional research on this topic.
The older adult farmers who were impacted by the B.C. floods in the Fraser Valley were anything but passive victims of the disaster as they were able to leverage their longstanding connections and social ties within their communities (that is, bonding social capital) into direct disaster assistance. Moreover, this disaster assistance due to the social capital and collective action within the community reflects the concept of the therapeutic community realized in early disaster research (see, for example, Barton 1970; Quarantelli and Dynes 1977). The social capital that resulted in disaster assistance ultimately created the therapeutic community experienced by the older adult farmers in the Fraser Valley. Gill (2007) described that therapeutic communities are filled with social capital as communities and individuals will leverage their social capital to provide and garner assistance post-disaster. Therefore, it is clear that the large amount of social capital that the older adult farmers secured over time, was able to be leveraged into disaster assistance resulting in a therapeutic community that helped expedite recovery and enhance resilience (Nakagawa and Shaw 2004; Aldrich and Sawada 2015; Phillips 2015; Hsueh 2019; Lee et al. 2022; Liu et al. 2022).
6 Limitations
Like all research, this study had limitations. This study focused on an extremely specific group—older adult farmers. We used non-probability sampling to identify the target population for interviews. Because of the specificity of the population in the study and the sampling strategy, the findings are not generalizable to the broader population of older adults and older adult farmers. The experiences shared regarding disasters and social capital may differ from older adults in different locations and who have different occupations and means. Furthermore, most of the older adult farmers we interviewed were actively engaged with their farms, which provided them with avenues of social capital that may not be available to retired older adults who are no longer active in farming.
It is also important to discuss the limitations regarding the sample size of participants. There were only 9 farmers who we classified as older adults that participated in the study. While smaller sample sizes can yield rich theoretical perspectives, larger sample sizes can strengthen results and theory, and provide greater opportunity for additional thematic elements to emerge from the data. Alongside larger sample sizes, a more diverse pool of participants would have allowed for a wider range of experiences and outlooks to be presented. For example, Indigenous farmers may have unique insights into flood response and recovery based on their connections to the land and the animals that inhabit it. Thus, future research must include these critical perspectives from historically underrepresented groups.
Although there were distinct limitations involved with this research regarding generalizability, sample size, and demographic diversity, the experiences discussed by the older adult farmers can offer insights that can guide future inquiry about the contributions older adults at large can have in disaster settings.
7 Conclusion
Older adults in disaster contexts are often viewed through the lens of their vulnerabilities and are rarely acknowledged for the unique contributions they can provide in disasters. This study demonstrated that in some cases, older adults can make contributions and have agency in disaster settings. This study focused on a specific population of older adults—older adult farmers—who contributed to the post-British Columbia flood disaster recovery process by leveraging their social capital obtained through long-standing connections and relationships within their community. The social capital and subsequent disaster assistance resulted in a therapeutic community, bringing positive effects after the floods. While this group of older adults is specific and unique, the results depict the importance of recognizing the agency and abilities of older adults in the disaster response and recovery processes as well as their capacity to build future resilience in future research. The capabilities of older adults coupled with experience and potential deep community social ties indicate the need to account for these aspects in future disaster studies.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR)’s quick response research program: 2021 British Columbia’s Fraser Valley Flooding. This research was also undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program (Award # CRC-2020-00128). The authors would like to show their gratitude to the research assistants: Maryam Schneider and Emily Crosby for their support.
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