Modeling Post-disaster Challenges of Humanitarian Supply Chains: A TISM Approach

Concern related to risk reduction and sustainability in disaster relief aid is increasing from past few years and will be continued due to increasing frequency of disasters and the people coming in their ways. The approach of any disaster relief activities must not be limited only to saving lives and providing relief but also to making the communities capable for next disasters they may face. Relief aid distribution is usually logistics activites but unpredictable nature of disaster, damaged communication systems, asymmetry in relief-demand information and a chaotic environment created by the disaster make it as the most challenging. Therefore, it appeals the need to identify various challenges of humanitarian supply chains and to develop a hierarchy towards achieving sustainability in relief during post extreme events. In this article, total interpretive structural modelling, an interactive tool and an innovative version of interpretive structural modeling technique, has been applied as the methodology to develop a hierarchical model that also explains the interrelation of selected fifteen challenges and the level of the hierarchy. Result of the developed model suggests that the poor strategic planning and lack of investment in ex-ante measures (limited numbers and capacity of shelters, and less numbers of in-country warehouses) lead to the lack of sustainable relief aid. © 2016, Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management.