Abstract
The increasing complexity and often transboundary scope of complex emergencies are exceeding the capacity of humanitarian logistics systems. The military plays a growing role in supplementing and even leading humanitarian assistance and disaster relief logistics. However, issues relating to military involvement such as sovereignty and cost have refocused the conversation onto capabilities and capacities of commercial logistics providers, who have not been fully engaged and integrated into disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities. The commercial sector is part of the larger supply chain management system that includes contracting, procurement, storage, and transportation of food, water, medicine, and other supplies, as well as human resources, and necessary machinery and equipment. Military and commercial logistics share many of these elements and tasks daily. The most effective and efficient response combines key elements from humanitarian, military, and commercial logistics systems. Such trilateral cooperation represents the next step in an evolving partnership paradigm that is truly synergistic. We present a Synchronized Disaster Relief Model, as well as multiple examples of how military, commercial, and humanitarian supply chains each bring unique capabilities to disaster relief operations, and how these three supply chains can complement each other in a synergistic manner, through synchronized action.
Highlights
Due to the increasing complexity, and often transboundary nature of disasters and complex emergencies, the capacity of the humanitarian logistics system is stretched beyond its ability to cope [1,2]
Commercial donors with limited resources may defer to military logistics support in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) rather than providing resources themselves to small non-government organizations (NGOs), because of the much greater capacity of the military, and because military assistance is generally free to the beneficiaries and to the impacted countries
This paper explores how this can be achieved by describing the legal frameworks guiding HADR, humanitarian principles, supply chain management (SCM)
Summary
Due to the increasing complexity, and often transboundary nature of disasters and complex emergencies, the capacity of the humanitarian logistics system is stretched beyond its ability to cope [1,2]. Commercial donors with limited resources may defer to military logistics support in HADR rather than providing resources themselves to small non-government organizations (NGOs), because of the much greater capacity of the military, and because military assistance is generally free to the beneficiaries and to the impacted countries This reality does not reflect the true cost of the military and risks the creation of unhelpful “competition” between military and humanitarian actors. Despite the highly effective and beneficial short-term impact military actors may have on the ground, there are challenges related to cost, adequacy, and competition for the aid pipeline, as well as lack of understanding between the military and humanitarian actors. This paper explores how this can be achieved by describing the legal frameworks guiding HADR, humanitarian principles, SCM systems, consequentialist versus deontological philosophies, prepositioning versus postponement, and synergistic disaster relief
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