Capital Assets and Rural Resilience: An Analysis of Texas Communities Impacted by Hurricane Harvey

Abstract

This study examines what may make rural disaster resilience distinct from urban disaster resilience. It approaches the study of disaster resilience in terms of adaptive capacities – framed as human, social, physical, financial, and natural capital assets – and adaptive processes of collaboration and improvisation. Data from 108 household interviews in four Texas communities affected by Hurricane Harvey are analyzed. The findings indicate that, in general, considerable human, physical, and financial capital needs are evident in all cases post-disaster. Housing and recovery process issues were particularly acute in rural communities. Rural communities were also distinct in that they rely most on community action, driven by social and natural capital ties, while the urban case exhibited greater reliance on government assistance. Social capital ties, directly associated with the agriculture community, were revealed as drivers of community response and recovery in rural communities.