Humanitarian relief standards as information policy

Sharing evidence on humanitarian relief.

One year ago the Asian tsunami struck, resulting in the largest humanitarian efforts of our generation. This year’s hurricane Katrina and earthquake in Kashmir also showed that both developed and developing nations are ill prepared for major disasters. Rapidly sharing relevant information from relief agencies and academic and non-government organisations (NGOs) at such critical times can make a...

Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure

Facility location in humanitarian relief

In this study, we consider facility location decisions for a humanitarian relief chain responding to quick-onset disasters. In particular, we develop a model that determines the number and locations of distribution centres in a relief network and the amount of relief supplies to be stocked at each distribution centre to meet the needs of people affected by the disasters. Our model, which is a v...

System Dynamics Modeling of Humanitarian Relief Operations

Against the backdrop of over two hundred thousand people dead or missing and millions of people homeless after China’s massive earthquake and Myanmar devastating cyclone, forecasts estimate that natural and manmade disasters are likely to increase five-fold both in number and impact over the next 50 years. Hence, the need for disaster relief provided by humanitarian organizations during disaste...

Last Mile Distribution in Humanitarian Relief

Last mile distribution is the final stage of a humanitarian relief chain; it refers to delivery of relief supplies from local distribution centers (LDCs) to beneficiaries affected by disasters. In this study, we consider a vehicle-based last mile distribution system, in which an LDC stores and distributes emergency relief supplies to a number of demand locations. The main decisions are allocati...