Channeling Disaster Aid: Process and Problems

Abstract

Disaster relief focuses on meeting immediate basic needs of survivors of extreme events and enhancing both the short- and long-term disaster recovery processes. Channeling aid to those who have suffered from a disaster is full of complexities. This chapter explores these complexities, understanding of which can facilitate a quick return to pre-disaster life so that the disaster survivors do not have to depend on relief aid for an extended period. This chapter starts by describing the processes of how disaster aid and emergency supplies flow from a plethora of sources (e.g., private, public, humanitarian, business, and nonprofit organizations, as well as individuals from both affected and non-affected areas/countries) to survivors of major extreme natural events. This chapter also covers other essential and relevant information such as providers and distributors of emergency aid, reasons for making donations, ways to improve humanitarian logistics, as well as the advantages and shortcomings of participation by domestic and foreign military forces in disaster relief operations. Because major relief operations have increasingly been attended by many organizations and personnel, coordination has become a dire problem in the disbursement of disaster relief. Attempts have been made over the last decades to improve coordination and partnership by establishing/developing new entities and assessment tools like Cluster Approach, Good Humanitarian Donorship, and Post-disaster Needs Assessments (PDNA). These topics are presented and the final section of this chapter deals with how social networks facilitate disaster relief efforts.