Operations Research in Humanitarian Logistics Decisions

The decision-making process on humanitarian logistics deals with variables related to the flow and quality of supplies, since the receipt of emergency relief items, its classification, stock, separation and delivery. Consequently, this decision-making process is crucial for seeking the best results in the allocation of scarce resources for storage and transportation in humanitarian operations, while preventing the flow of unnecessary products, which leads to losses and costs that may have consequences in the effectiveness of the operation. In this context, humanitarian logistics become a suitable topic for research in the fields of operations management and of operations research (OM/OR). Therefore, this paper surveys the existing literature in disaster relief operations; discuss relevant issues and topics that can be studied by OM/OR; and provide an overview of the existing models that can be applied in such context.