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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 June 2023

Felix Chari and Cawe Novukela

There has been an avalanche of global natural disasters in recent times. In recent years approximately 210 million people were affected, an estimated economic cost of US$153bn was…

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Abstract

Purpose

There has been an avalanche of global natural disasters in recent times. In recent years approximately 210 million people were affected, an estimated economic cost of US$153bn was incurred and 68,000 deaths were recorded. This was a work up call that made it imperative for humanitarian actors to impetuously adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) to timeously assist affected populations in disaster prevention, mitigation response and recovery However, the use of ICTs in the humanitarian field is still at its infancy in most third world countries. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the utilization of ICTs in humanitarian relief operations associated with Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a pragmatic approach, the study gathered data using semistructured questionnaires that were triangulated with interviews of humanitarian staff that were involved in Cyclone Idai relief efforts.

Findings

An observed suboptimal utilization of ICTs was further disadvantaged by the inequitable distribution of communication infrastructure. However, despite the suboptimal usage, there was a significant positive influence of ICT adoption on effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility in humanitarian relief operations.

Originality/value

Optimal use of ICTs has the potential to revolutionize humanitarian supply chain management. A smooth transition to new technologies is recommended in which personnel are given professional development opportunities on a regular basis.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Kwame Owusu-Kwateng, Munir Abdul Hamid and Bernice Debrah

Coordinating logistics in the midst of a relief operation is often an overwhelming job that can jeopardise the human life and assets if not done rapidly and practicably. The…

Abstract

Purpose

Coordinating logistics in the midst of a relief operation is often an overwhelming job that can jeopardise the human life and assets if not done rapidly and practicably. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of relief logistics in a disaster situation in Ghana with emphasis on the coordination of emergency relief operation and effectiveness of inventory management.

Design/methodology/approach

A stratified sampling method was employed to a sample of 134 respondents from regional, district and municipal offices in the National Disaster Management Organisation in Ghana using a self-administered questionnaire.

Findings

The findings from this study revealed an effective assessment time but late delivery of relief items. They also revealed issues with respect to resource availability, inventory management and coordination with relief actors which resulted in slow response to affected population.

Practical implications

The result from this study reveals an ineffective disaster relief response. The practical implications of this issue have been highlighted. In addition, ways to effectively address this issue have been discussed.

Originality/value

Drawing insight from previous work and study finding, the paper presents a framework for effective relief logistics operation focussing on all relevant actors in each phase of disaster.

Details

International Journal of Emergency Services, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2047-0894

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 June 2020

Aruna Apte

The purpose of this research is to understand whether an organization knows if it is ready to respond to a disaster and whether it has the capabilities to deliver relief. Our…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to understand whether an organization knows if it is ready to respond to a disaster and whether it has the capabilities to deliver relief. Our initial motivation was to identify unique resources possessed by the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) due to their unique and critical capabilities for humanitarian operations. The recent frequency of disasters around the world suggests these events will continue to create demand for relief capabilities. For this reason we need to understand readiness metrics not just for USN and USMC but for humanitarian organizations (Hos) in general.

Design/methodology/approach

We survey relevant literature for understanding how HOs define and develop readiness metrics and associated factors. We studied documents including peer-reviewed scholarly articles, government documents, white papers, research papers and Department of Defense (DoD) briefings. We study literature that is significantly written for DoD, one, the vast experience of USN and USMC and two, the lessons learned have been documented. The literature offers substantial information on what readiness means and why it is important. This documented information is critical because it is known to the researchers in humanitarian operations that data is hard to come by.

Findings

The framework for readiness proposed at the end of this article is context the emergency responder probably uses in an informal fashion. The validation of readiness framework, we find exists in the supporting literature we review.

Originality/value

The understanding of readiness metrics for humanitarian operations for the organizations we study may offer insight into other HOs. The insights we gain may not be pivotal or counterintuitive to the conclusions based on commonsense. However, they are supported by the literature review. We formalize the concept based on conclusions of a set of diverse set of researchers and practitioners such as academic scholars, DoD personnel and government officials involved in humanitarian missions, USAID representatives that are repeatedly tasked for being ready, military and government officers from host and foreign countries and many more.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2021

Sachin Agarwal, Ravi Kant and Ravi Shankar

This study proposed a mathematical model for decision-making in the pre- and post-disaster phases. This research aims to develop a mathematical model for three important fields in…

Abstract

Purpose

This study proposed a mathematical model for decision-making in the pre- and post-disaster phases. This research aims to develop a mathematical model for three important fields in the context of humanitarian logistics; stock prepositioning, facility location and evacuation planning in the humanitarian supply chain (HSC) network design.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applied three optimization techniques; classical approach (CA), pattern search algorithm (PSA) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) to solve the proposed mathematical model. The proposed mathematical model attempts to minimize the total relief items supply chain cost and evacuation chain cost of the HSC. A real case study of cyclone Fani, 2019 in Orissa, India is applied to validate the proposed mathematical model and to show the performance of the model.

Findings

The results demonstrate that heuristic approach; PSA performs better and optimal solutions are obtained in almost all the cases as compared to the GA and CA.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to deterministic demands in the affected regions, and different scenarios of the disaster events are not considered.

Social implications

The finding reveals that the proposed model can help the humanitarian stakeholders in making decisions on facility location, relief distribution and evacuation planning in disaster relief operations.

Originality/value

The results of this study may offer managerial insights to practitioners and humanitarian logisticians who are engaged in HSC implementation.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 August 2020

Sachin Agarwal, Ravi Kant and Ravi Shankar

This paper intends to explore and appraise the humanitarian supply chain management enablers (HSCMEs) for efficient and effective humanitarian operations. This research aims to…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper intends to explore and appraise the humanitarian supply chain management enablers (HSCMEs) for efficient and effective humanitarian operations. This research aims to analyze the interaction of enablers for humanitarian supply chain management (HSCM) using a proposed hybrid framework consists of fuzzy Delphi (FD), interpretive structural modeling (ISM)–matriced impacts croises multiplication appliquee a un classement (MICMAC) and revised Simos approach.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is deliberate to identify 28 HSCMEs through a literature review and experts' opinions; out of which 20 HSCMEs are selected using FD. ISM is applied to know contextual relationship among the selected HSCMEs for developing a hierarchical model. The MICMAC analysis classifies the HSCMEs based on driving power and dependence power to validate the developed hierarchical ISM structure. The revised Simos technique is used to prioritize the HSCMEs to access its relative significance in humanitarian operations.

Findings

The finding of the analysis suggests that government policy and leadership support obtained the highest priority, having high driving power and low dependence power is significantly strategic and emerged as the leading driver for the HSCM implementation.

Research limitations/implications

ISM model presents an insight into interrelationship among HSCMEs, but this cannot quantify the impact of each HSCMEs.

Practical implications

Disaster relief aid agencies and stakeholders may focus on the enablers having high driving power and higher weight in designing and executing an effective and efficient humanitarian supply chain and to improve their activities and strategies of HSCM.

Social implications

This research helps humanitarian logisticians and humanitarian organizations to make better decisions to improve their operational performance in pre and postdisaster phases.

Originality/value

This paper explores the application of proposed hybrid framework to analyze the HSCMEs that can be considered as the original contribution.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Graham Heaslip and Elizabeth Barber

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of the challenges of civil military logistical cooperation, coordination and collaboration in humanitarian…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of the challenges of civil military logistical cooperation, coordination and collaboration in humanitarian relief logistics.

Design/methodology/approach

Systematic literature review of academic journals.

Findings

This paper has four main findings. First, a categorisation of humanitarian logistics literature is achieved through a systematic review. Second, a classification of military involvement in humanitarian relief logistics is presented. Third, the research substantiated systematic differences in the kinds of military cooperation not only due to stage of operations but also depending upon whether the disaster is “natural” or “manmade”. Fourth, the research identifies the challenges of civil military logistical cooperation, coordination and collaboration and posits recommendations to overcome the identified challenges.

Research limitations/implications

This paper represents an exploratory study and provides the basis for further research on cooperation, coordination and collaboration between military and civilian agencies in humanitarian operations. The paper sets a research agenda for academics.

Practical implications

This paper is the first to offer practical guidance to military commanders and managers of humanitarian agencies on solutions and recommendations to overcome the challenges to civil military logistical cooperation/coordination in humanitarian operations.

Originality/value

The area of civil military logistical cooperation/coordination has received limited consideration within the humanitarian aid logistics literature to date. This paper is designed to redress this shortfall. As a result, it is hoped that it will act as a catalyst for further research and to widen and deepen the resultant debate with a view to improving the outcome for those affected by current and future disasters.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2015

Imoh Antai, Crispin Mutshinda and Richard Owusu

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a 3R (right time, right place, and right material) principle for characterizing failure in humanitarian/relief supply chains’ response to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a 3R (right time, right place, and right material) principle for characterizing failure in humanitarian/relief supply chains’ response to natural disasters, and describes a Bayesian methodology of the failure odds with regard to external factors that may affect the disaster-relief outcome, and distinctive supply chain proneness to failure.

Design/methodology/approach

The suggested 3Rs combine simplicity and completeness, enclosing all aspects of the 7R principle popular within business logistics. A fixed effects logistic regression model is designed, with a Bayesian approach, to relate the supply chains’ odds for success in disaster-relief to potential environmental predictors, while accounting for distinctive supply chains’ proneness to failure.

Findings

Analysis of simulated data demonstrate the model’s ability to distinguish relief supply chains with regards to their disaster-relief failure odds, taking into account pertinent external factors and supply chain idiosyncrasies.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the complex nature of natural disasters and the scarcity of subsequent data, the paper employs computer-simulated data to illustrate the implementation of the proposed methodology.

Originality/value

The 3R principle offers a simple and familiar basis for evaluating failure in relief supply chains’ response to natural disasters. Also, it brings the issues of customer orientation within humanitarian relief and supply operations to the fore, which had only been implicit within the humanitarian and relief supply chain literature.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

François-Xavier Delmonteil and Marie-Ève Rancourt

The devastating impact of catastrophic disasters on terrestrial infrastructure requires the adoption of alternative technology solutions among humanitarian organizations. The…

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Abstract

Purpose

The devastating impact of catastrophic disasters on terrestrial infrastructure requires the adoption of alternative technology solutions among humanitarian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the most commonly used satellite technologies in relief logistics: imagery and mapping, portable global positioning system (GPS) positioning devices, telecommunications, and GPS vehicle tracking.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines both the benefits and limitations of satellite technologies in light of the existing literature and through a complementary questionnaire survey with field workers involved in humanitarian operations in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Findings

The results show that the use of satellite technologies can facilitate most of the key logistics challenges encountered by relief actors. However, they also highlight important barriers within humanitarian organizations such as the lack of skilled workers and high costs, underlining the need for long-term training, resource investments, and cooperation between users and technology providers.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings remain valid only in the context of catastrophic disaster responses, which lead to similar destructions, logistical problems, and needs for satellite technologies.

Practical implications

This paper shows how satellite technologies can support humanitarian professionals in the field. It also provides policy recommendations that can facilitate the use of these technologies.

Originality/value

The applications of satellite technologies within humanitarian supply chains are not well-defined in the literature. This paper is the first to be dedicated to analyze the role of the main satellite technologies used in a relief logistics setting.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 October 2011

Mustafa Alp Ertem and Nebil Buyurgan

The purpose of this paper is to address the inefficiency problems in procurement operations in disaster relief logistics which are mainly due to the lack of coordination among…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address the inefficiency problems in procurement operations in disaster relief logistics which are mainly due to the lack of coordination among less organized suppliers and partnerships. Such problems lead to poor responsiveness and hinder timely procurement of required goods.

Design/methodology/approach

An auction‐based framework for procurement of goods, which is suitable for a single coordinating platform in disaster relief logistics, is proposed. Integer programming formulations are used in auctioning operations. A simulation model that generates problem instances is used to evaluate and tune system‐level design parameters.

Findings

Design parameters greatly affect the behaviour and responsiveness of the system and the performance of the auction‐based framework in different problem instances. Combinations of those parameters may allow suppliers with limited capacities to become more involved in the bidding process. In addition, the procurement shares of bidders may change substantially with different values of the parameters.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the presented framework is inspired from real‐life applications, it is not implemented in real‐life disaster relief operations. The goodness of fit for the framework would best be evaluated by a real disaster case. In addition, transportation scheduling and vehicle routing considerations and budgeting issues are not considered in the framework.

Originality/value

This paper presents an auction‐based framework for less organized suppliers of goods and their partnerships, such as local humanitarian organizations, private companies, and standby partners. The presented framework offers a background for coordination during disaster relief operations which provides opportunities to act as a set of organized entities. This background also helps those entities coordinate their efforts to enhance the capabilities of local governments and NGOs.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 June 2022

Sogand Soghrati Ghasbeh, Nadia Pourmohammadzia and Masoud Rabbani

This paper aims to address a location-distribution-routing problem for distributing relief commodities during a disaster under uncertainty by creating a multi-stage model that can…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address a location-distribution-routing problem for distributing relief commodities during a disaster under uncertainty by creating a multi-stage model that can consider information updates during the disaster. This model aims to create a relief network that chooses distribution centers with the highest value while maximizing equity and minimizing response time.

Design/methodology/approach

A hybrid algorithm of adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) and multi-dimensional local search (MDLS) is introduced to solve the problem. Its results are compared to ALNS and an augmented epsilon constraint (AUGMECON) method.

Findings

The results show that the hybrid algorithm can obtain high-quality solutions within reasonable computation time compared to the exact solution. However, while it yields better solutions compared to ALNS, the solution is obtained in a little longer amount of time.

Research limitations/implications

In this paper, the uncertain nature of some key features of the relief operations problem is not discussed. Moreover, some assumptions assumed to simplify the proposed model should be verified in future studies.

Practical implications

In order to verify the effectiveness of the designed model, a case study of the Sarpol Zahab earthquake in 2017 is illustrated and based on the results and the sensitivity analyses, some managerial insights are listed to help disaster managers make better decisions during disasters.

Originality/value

A novel robust multi-stage linear programming model is designed to address the location-distribution-routing problem during a disaster and to solve this model an efficient hybrid meta-heuristic model is developed.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

11 – 20 of over 3000