Management of Relief Supply Chain & Humanitarian Aids Logistics through Supply Chain Resilience Case Study: South West Asia Tsunami (2004)

Abstract: Humanitarian logistics and relief supply chain management is a relatively new area of investigation which is typically associated with unexpected disasters that require immediate actions and responses. It can be defined as “the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of meeting the end beneficiary‟s requirements” (Thomas, 2005).In both man-made and natural disaster relief processes, humanitarian logistics and relief supply chain operations have been hampered by a lack of information and coordination between actors. Especially in sudden-onset disasters, humanitarian logistics and relief supply chain teams have to be deployed in situations with destabilized infrastructure and with very limited knowledge about the situation at hand (Beamon 2004, Long and Wood 1995, Tomasini and Van Wassenhove 2004).This lack directly affects effective performance in terms of validity and reliability enhancement in which an adapted resiliency management in relief supply chain strategies could offer a solution to cover the problem.The purpose of study ahead is to underline the beneficial advantages offered by using resiliency methods in humanitarian logistics and relief supply chain operations, and enriching the existing benefits that relief chain management teams through the humanitarian logistics techniques have brought to satisfy the survival needs.In fact, the end result of the research will be in both fields of humanitarian logistics and relief supply chain management, and the use of resiliency theories to overcome on barriers and difficulties during relief and aid operations.