An Agile and Flexible Supply Chain for Efficient Humanitarian Logistics in a Disaster Management System

Abstract

Disasters have been striking mankind quite regularly from time immemorial. The way mankind responded to these disasters has changed from just fleeing from the location to modern-day ability to stay put and face the scenario of aftereffects of the disaster. This change in perception and requirement is the result of a sea change in sociopolitical factors as well as advancement in science and technology to cater for the exigencies of a disaster. However, the more the ability to stay back and fight the disaster, the better need be the agility and flexibility to convey the benefits of research and technology to the location where it is needed most at the quickest possible time. This is possible only if there is a robust supply chain (SC) designed to cater for all eventualities. This paper is an attempt to identify the configurations of the SC for disaster management and thus analyze humanitarian logistic issues and try to suggest a model for incorporating humanitarian logistics into SC models.