Humanitarian logistics are the activities of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and cost effective flow of and storage of goods and materials as well as related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of vulnerable people.
Humanitarian crises are defined as a dramatic and adverse event or a series of events which present a major threat to the life, health, safety and security of the society or any big group of people.
Humanitarian actions are a moral imperative and a major manifestation of the solidarity of citizens from all over the world with the disaster victims
Disaster a disruption that physically accepts a system as a whole and threatens its priorities and goals. There are natural and manmade disasters, disasters can be further classified according to predictability and speed of occurrence as well as sudden onset and slow onset disasters.
Disasters can be categorized into four types:
- Calamities: These are characterized by natural disasters and sudden-onset occurrences e.g. earthquake, hurricanes, tornadoes
- Destructive actions: They are characterized by manmade causes and sudden on-set occurrence e.g. terrorist attacks, coup d‘etat, industrial accidents
- Plagues: They are characterized by natural causes and slow-onset occurrence e.g. famines, drought, poverty
- Crises: They are characterized by man-made causes and slow-onset occurrences e.g. political and refugee crises
Humanitarian efforts can be divided into:
- Disaster relief: It deals with calamities, destructive actions and plagues
- Continuous aid work: It is required in the phase of plagues and crises
The effects of climate change, world epidemics, ecological disasters, the global financial and economic slump, war conflicts and other adverse consequences for the population are among the major challenges to global and regional security that the world is facing today. Every year humanitarian crises affect the lives of millions, thousands are forced to leave their homes because of wars, entire cities are razed to the ground as a result of earthquakes, floods take a heavy death toll. The need to take timely action to overcome these challenges raises the importance of humanitarian aid organizations, attaching greater relevance to the theory and practice of humanitarian logistics. Regardless of the nature of the causes of the humanitarian crisis, whether a natural disaster or a military conflict, people‘s immediate needs are always the same – shelter, food, clean water and medical assistance.
