HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS Hum LOG HELP What is Humanitarian

HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS / Hum. LOG/ HELP

What is Humanitarian Logistics Humanitarian logistics involves delivering the right supplies to the right people, at the right place, at the right time, and in the right quantities. People Place Time Quantity The Speed of humanitarian aid effort could prevent loss of lives and bring relief to number of people.

Disasters By 'disaster' we mean 'a disruption that physically affects a system as a whole and threatens its priorities and goals. • • Natural Disasters Man-Made Disasters 97 % of resources are devoted to the relief of man made disasters

Disasters

There is an increasing trend of Disasters

Importance of Logistics during Humanitarian crisis Every year 500 disasters killing 75, 000 people Disaster relief is about 80% logistics Food relief accounted for $ 5 billion in 1991 By 2004 combined budget of top 10 aid agencies exceeded $ 14 billion Almost every government in the world is involved either as a donor or recipient of relief operations

Why Logistics Operations ? In emergency relief operations, logistics are required to support the organization and implementation of response operations in order to ensure their timeliness and efficiency. • Mobilizing the staff, equipment and goods of humanitarian assistance organizations, the evacuation of the injured or the resettlement of those directly affected by the disaster, requires a logistics system to maximize effectiveness. •

Logistics is central to humanitarian relief. • The speed and efficacy of relief programs depends on the ability of logisticians to procure, transport, receive, and distribute supplies to the site of relief efforts. • logistics serves as a bridge between - Disaster preparedness and response, - Procurement and distribution - Headquarters and the field.

Logistics cycle in Hum Log • Hum. Log is ten years behind business Logistics • Its only in the recent past that organisations like IFRC and WFP have tried to break the vicious cycle by indicating that logistics and supply chain management as they key to relief operations

Why the uncertainty in Hum. Log • • Operating conditions Robust equipment Politically volatile climate High staff turn-over Number of stake holders Supplier Uncertainty End-user requirements Unkown’s

Supplier’s in Hum. Log Various number of players

Government is the key player • Governments hold the main power with the control they have over political and economical conditions and directly affect supply chain processes with their decisions. • After the 2004 tsunami, for instance, the Indian government did not invite international aid agencies to participate at all in the first 60 days of the relief effort, and functioned during that period with the local sources of supplies

There are Number of parties involved in Humanitarian Relief operations

Disaster Response trade-off’s • A disaster response operation involves trade-offs of speed, cost, and accuracy with regard to the type of goods that are delivered and their quantities. • The faster that goods are delivered to beneficiaries after a disaster, the less likely these goods are accurately meeting the needs of the beneficiaries, and the more likely the operation will be costly. • Balancing these trade-offs requires means

Disaster relief measurement Four indicators measure logistic performance in terms of the tradeoffs of speed, cost and accuracy. They include • Appeal Coverage • Donation-to-Delivery Time • Financial Efficiency • Assessment Accuracy Taken together, these indicators create a “scorecard” that will help the logistics department gauge performance both during and after a relief operation

Phases within Disaster Management • Preparedness is the most important phase. Well prepared communities can significantly prevent the loss of lives

Preparedness is the key • Being better prepared leads to better response • Five Key elements of preparedness • The key elements should to be inter-linked to ensure flow of goods , information and finance

Co-ordination types Co-ordination by Command : One authority for issuing visas to all NGO’s Co-ordination by Consensus: One authority should identify problem such as shortage of fuel in the disaster area Co-ordination by Default : When relief agencies start leaving the area they share information amongst each other

What if co-ordination is Missing

Warehousing and Communication • Sorting , storing and dispatching relief goods is the key for successful execution of relief operations • Warehouses have to be established in short time period which ensure fast processing • Communication is important for coordinating among several players • It should avoid bottleneck , identification of worst effected areas , reduced redundancy

Warehouse Layout for handling relief Goods

Sorting and labeling by priority • The organization in charge of handling the supplies should establish priorities for the different kinds of items based on the most urgent needs. • For instance, in the event of an earthquake, medical supplies and equipment for treating injuries and fractures may be a priority. • Sorting by priority makes it possible to expedite the processing of the most urgently needed supplies. • All boxes and packages should be labeled clearly, indicating their priority.

Coloring based on priority Priority 1: Urgent—for immediate distribution. Identified by a red label. • Priority 2: Non-urgent distribution. goods that are not immediately required but will be useful at a later stage. Identified by a blue label. • Priority 3: Non-priority goods—non-urgent distribution. Items that have been damaged, have expired, are unknown, useless, or of doubtful value. Identified by a black label. •

Communication • • • During a disaster, communication is as important as food and water. A disaster can damage telecommunication infrastructure. If an event happens in a densely populated area, thousands of people can try to make calls at the same time overloading the system. For example, the American Red Cross, has created mobile communication trucks. The telecom trucks, once positioned, provide “ 48 phone lines, high-speed internet access, e-mail and satellite-enabled communication with national headquarters”

The most practical communication options

The most practical communication options

Technology information systems is the single most important element in determining the success or failure of disaster relief operations. Accurate information is needed by regional actors upon which they can develop evacuation plans. Hospitals is disaster prone regions need technology to track their particular needs.

Technology Co-ordination among many different organisations in the disaster effected area is quite crucial. Lack of co-ordination leads to last mile challenges. Collaborative platforms include United Nations Joint Logistics centre ( UNJLC ) , Disaster relief Network ( DRN ) by World economic forum. Also many traditional logistics companies such as DHL or TNT are collaborating with UN in forming a disaster relief information system.

Technology Problem Information system depends on the pre-determined scenario and existence of known input data such as known nodes of demand for particular goods. Few of them deal with immediate response and dynamic situation of emergencies.

Inventory tracking through technology Bar Codes Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)

Making Humanitarian Supply Chain Agile

Comparison between Business Logistics and Humanitarian Logistics Business Supply Chain Humanitarian Supply Chain Demand Pattern Relatively Stable Estimated Lead Time determined by Suppliermanufacturer-distribution Zero Lead Time Distribution Network Well define number of distribution centers and locations Challenging due to nature of disaster Inventory Control Well defined Hard to control inventory level Information System Well defined Hard to rely on information gathered Strategic Goal value creation , high quality product at low cost Minimize loss of life Performance Measurement System focused on resource time required to performance measures, such as respond to a or maximizing profit or minimizing ability to meet the needs of costs.

Recommendations Enhance knowledge sharing Effective funding utilization Increased use of technology