Humanitarian aid distribution framework for natural disaster management

Abstract

Humanitarian aid distribution is associated with many activities, numerous disaster management stakeholders, enormous effort and different processes. For effective communication, humanitarian aid distribution activities require appropriate and up-to-date information to enhance collaboration, and improve integration. The purpose of this paper is to develop a humanitarian aid distribution framework for disaster management in Malaysia. The findings of this paper are based on a review of the humanitarian aid process and interviews with disaster management stakeholders. Findings reveal that, poor coordination and lack of good communication among disaster management stakeholders are the major issues within the humanitarian aid distribution process in developing countries. These issues could have adverse consequences for the objectives and success of the humanitarian aid distribution activities in disaster management. Therefore, to reduce these issues, a humanitarian aid distribution framework is proposed to support appropriate deliveries, improve the monitoring process, facilitate team coordination, improve government interagency collaboration and improve communication among disaster management stakeholders. The proposed humanitarian aid distribution framework sets out to overcome the food redundancy problem, the uneven distribution of food supply to disaster victims and food insecurity issues in developing countries. It is anticipated that this research will establish a systematic humanitarian aid distribution system by enhancing its process, improving its efficiency and maximising its effectiveness.