Examples of logistics in case of natural disasters and Logistics in Healthcare by Ellen Gearing and Charlotte Beswick

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Is the library a warehouse? Examples of logistics in case of natural disasters and Logistics in Healthcare.

  • As we are probably all aware through the news, natural disasters seem to be becoming more and more prominent, such as hurricanes, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunami’s as well as man-made disasters such as chemical/oil spillages. These disasters affect hundreds of millions of people each year.

  • Quick responses in terms of urgent relief after disasters through efficient emergency logistics distribution is vital to the alleviation of disaster impact in the affected areas in terms of both short-term and long-term effects.
  • Emergency logistics is a process of planning, managing and controlling the efficient flows of relief, information and services from the points of origin to the points of destination to meet the urgent needs of the affected people under emergency conditions (http://crisis.med.uoa.gr/elibrary/15.pdf).
  • An organised logistics chain is necessary in order to achieve a balance between speed, and costs, during and after the disaster.

  • There are many challenges in emergency logistics planning compared to normal business logistics such as:
- Additional uncertainties like unusable routes, safety issues, changing facility capacities and demand uncertainties,
-There may be complex communication and coordination due to damage to communication lines, involvement of many third parties, inaccessibility to accurate real-time demand information,
-It is hard to achieve efficient and timely delivery and,
-Limited resources are often overwhelmed by the scale of the situation (supply, people, transportation capacity and fuel.
  • 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 and mitigate the death toll of such events.
  • In particular we want to look at the logistics and supply chains behind the responses to Hurricane Irma and Maria. Hurricane Irma being a category 5 hurricane that devastated areas in the Caribbean such as Puerto Rico, Florida, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

  • As Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria approached the Caribbean late this summer, public and private supply chains already affected and stretched thin by August's Hurricane Harvey had to ramp up again. Coordination was even more critical in order to leverage all available logistics capacity to meet human needs.
  • MIT have a team that analyze supply chain data from companies working to make critical commodities – such as water, food, and fuel – accessible soon after the storm passed. To assist with situational awareness, the team developed maps of major fuel retailers and grocery distribution centers in the state of Florida.
  • During Irma the MIT team enabled rapid analysis and exchange of critical information with operational teams in companies. The team focused heavily on assurance of fuel supply, specifically targeting companies running the large chains of highway travel centers.
  • Not long after Hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean and southeast United States, Hurricane Maria wrought havoc in Puerto Rico, leaving millions without power, without roads, and without homes.  Again, MIT’s Humanitarian Response Lab was back at FEMA headquarters working to establish connections between government and private sector around supply chain issues.

  • MIT led coordination calls with dozens of companies from the private sector to exchange information to improve logistics operations given the severely damaged Puerto Rican infrastructure.  Out of these calls came a coordinated air bridge to San Juan airport, with the first shipment including essential communications equipment for AT&T mobile networks.
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