Humanitarian Logistics and Disaster Management

Humanitarian logistics and disaster management deal with natural disasters (such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, cloud bursts, floods, landslides, droughts, and famines) and man-made disasters (such as chemical leaks, large-scale explosions, terrorist attacks, refugee crisis, and war situations) or a combination of several disasters, which may occur simultaneously.

In such disaster situations, the efficiency of humanitarian relief operations depends to a large extent on humanitarian logistics. At times, the adverse impact of the disaster may be so large that the government and all other stakeholder groups may be overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and the humanitarian assistance and response operations may be weak and ineffective. Therefore, it is important that different stakeholders understand their roles in humanitarian assistance and emergency response and take appropriate steps to respond effectively to reduce the adverse impact of the disaster on the disaster-affected community.

This research area looks for applications to effective management of a disaster in the preparation and the response (immediate post-disaster) phase, especially in the context of the need to develop mature and robust humanitarian logistics systems and supply chain management of relief supplies.

Sahay B.S., Menon N.V.C., Gupta S. (2016). Humanitarian Logistics and Disaster Management, Springer.