Redefining Basic Needs for Families: A Qualitative Analysis of Services Provided after the Flood

The literature on families in disaster currently leaves many questions unanswered with regard to their basic needs during and after a disaster. This study fills that gap using focus group data conducted with service providers one year after the 2013 Southern Alberta Flood in High River, AB. My analysis looks at the basic needs of families during and after the disaster event. It also asks how families and service providers define basic needs. Findings suggest that there are many ways in which service providers were able to support the community but there are also discrepancies between family needs and what service providers made available and offered. My analysis contributes to a new perspective on family basic needs during and after a disaster like the 2013 Southern Alberta flood. This paper provides important research findings that points to how families were supported by service providers and a major discrepancy between family needs and the resources offered to them by community service providers. These findings have important implications for attempts to best assist families both during and after disasters, and makes important contributions to the existing literature in this area.