Disaster relief operations and continuous aid program in human supply networks: Are they congruent?—an analysis

Abstract

Humanitarian supply chain and logistics has succeeded in attracting research attention in recent years as the special field of attention. Purpose of this paper is to introduce the difference between the Continuous Aid programmes from the disaster relief chains in a Humanitarian Supply System. So far the literature was so biased towards only Disaster relief chains. Through the case study and other research, this paper is to establish and advocate that all Humanitarian Supply networks are not having the disaster management orientation and also to establish scope for further discussions and analysis to the area of Continuous aid category. This paper is primarily the conceptual framework for researching the internal operations strategy of any human Supply Network Operations. It reviews the existing literature in Humanitarian supply network and disaster relief measure to establish the current meaning of Humanitarian Supply network. It adopts the micro case based approach to authenticate the concept of including the Continuous Aid programs in “Humanitarian Supply network” which is currently biased towards Disaster relief management. The paper has found the usage of Humanitarian Supply network term in a complement way with Disaster Relief operations/management so far. However, there are operations which do not support the disaster relief measures; On the other hand—it supports the livelihood of the society. Those operations should also be called and classified under the Continuous Aid Category under Humanitarian Supply network operations. Further research and arguments are indispensable to differentiate the Operations dynamics of Continuous Aid Program from the disaster relief management. The discussions can help the re-orientation of research to strengthen and streamline the definitions and areas of Human Supply network. The conceptual paper is analyzing the operations of Humanitarian Supply Chains in detail and gives a new dimension and school of thought with a definition towards Humanitarian Supply networks. This is the original paper written based on the author’s experience with NGOs operating in this field. The concept “Humanitarian Supply Networks” should be established and explored carefully, not to be used extensively only on the disaster relief measures, based on the facts established through this paper. The points discussed in the paper will help to widen the discussions on the Humanitarian Supply Networks field.