Diagramming development for a base camp and staging area in a humanitarian logistics base airport

Purpose Scheduling the airlift of relief supplies into a damaged or small airport during a crisis is complex yet crucial. The volume of cargo and flights can temporarily overwhelm the airport’s capacity and the mix of flights adds complexity. The purpose of this paper is to better characterize airport operations during a crisis, to develop a model that can assess strategies for scheduling flights and to draw implications for decision makers. Design/methodology/approach First, empirical data are analyzed to characterize airport operations. Previously unreported data from the 2010 Haiti earthquake response in the form of a “flight log” are analyzed to provide new insights and parameters. Alternate scheduling strategies are drawn from review of the literature and After Action Reports. Second, a queuing model is developed to understand operations in past crises and predict the impact of alternate scheduling strategies. Empirical data provide the parameters for airport scenarios evaluated. Findings Unloading capacity is seen to be the bottleneck but also to not be fully utilized, suggesting that a more aggressive flight schedule is needed. Scheduling flights is shown to be a tradeoff between volume of aid delivered and flights that must be diverted. The proper mix of aircraft and prioritized divert policies also provide benefits. Finally, it is beneficial, though perhaps counterintuitive, to create a parking buffer upstream from the unloading bottleneck. Originality/value Analysis of previously unreported data from the Haiti earthquake provides new insights regarding airport parking and unloading operations. A new model of airport scheduling for disaster response is proposed. The model differs from other humanitarian airlift models in that it focuses on aircraft parking and unloading. It differs from commercial aircraft scheduling and gate assignment in the objective used.

Section: Airport Operations In Humanitarian Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding the bottleneck: airport congestion during relief operations

Veatch

Goentzel

2018

“…An airport can be utilised as a humanitarian logistics base by hosting a base camp, a staging area and a medical care area. Choi and Hanaoka (2017) focused on the first Standards in humanitarian supply chain two types of facilities and proposed a method that enables planners to estimate the required space and to configure a layout. The method includes four main core phases: developing an adjacent diagram, estimating the area for each facility, developing a bubble diagram and developing a schematic plan.…”

Section: Investigatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian logistics and supply chain standards. Literature review and view from practice

Paciarotti

Piotrowicz

Fenton³

2021

PurposeThe paper is focused on standards in humanitarian logistics and supply chain. Standards, implemented between organisations, allow improving the interoperability of humanitarian operations. The paper aims (1) to review a state-of-the-art approach to the topic by the academic community, (2) to evaluate the current use of standards among humanitarian organisations and (3) to investigate the perceived need for further and specific standards.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the aims, the literature was reviewed; then a survey on 227 professionals from the humanitarian logistics sector was conducted.FindingsBased on 227 responses, it is possible to conclude that most surveyed professionals recognise the need for and the importance of standardisation in humanitarian logistics, especially in areas such as procurement, distribution, medical logistics and logistics planning, which were perceived as critical areas that require standardisation.Research limitations/implicationsPractitioners and scholars were targeted via social media, through mailing lists and via communication from the practitioner organisation – the Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA). While it provided good access to different groups of respondents, the response rate is not possible to calculate.Practical implicationsThe findings confirm the high importance of standardisation, indicating areas and functions that should be standardised first. Standardisation may improve cooperation between different humanitarian actors, allowing better service provision for beneficiaries. Thus there are also potential negative impacts, i.e. impact on localisation, which should be overcome.Social implicationsResults do not have a direct social impact; however, they stimulate research and work among practitioners on standardisation, which in turn could improve cooperation between humanitarian actors, thereby enabling a better humanitarian response in emergencies.Originality/valueThe majority of papers on standardisation use a qualitative approach. This paper applies a survey among a large network of humanitarian practitioners, capturing their view on the topic and perception of the need for standardisation. The work is descriptive; however, it could be used as a base for further studies related to humanitarian standards.

“…Furthermore, it is important to note that victim support is affected when the only access roads are damaged. As a way to reduce the response time and be prepared in case roads become blocked, existing warehouses can be adapted to become a base for humanitarian activities (Choi and Hanaoka, 2017). In the response and recovery phases, the humanitarian logistics PODs provide first response resources, maintain inventory efficiently and control different flows (products, emergency workers and victims) with effective transportation, providing realtime information and coordinating stakeholder requirements (Azim et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goal programming optimization model under uncertainty and the critical areas characterization in humanitarian logistics management

Chong

Lazo

Pereda

et al. 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve disaster management models, have an optimal distribution of assets, reduce human suffering in a crisis and find a good solution for warehouse locations, distribution points, inventory levels and costs, considering the uncertainty of a wide range of variables, to serve as a support model for decision making in real situations. Design/methodology/approach A model is developed based on the recent models. It includes structured and non-structured data (historical knowledge) from a humanitarian perspective. This model considers the uncertainty in a landslide and flood area and it is applied in a representative Peruvian city. Findings The proposed model can be used to determine humanitarian aid supply and its distribution with uncertainty, regarding the affected population and its resilience. This model presents a different point of view from the efficiency of the logistics perspective, to identify the level of trust between all the stakeholders (public, private and academic). The finding provides a new insight in disaster management to cover the gap between applied research and human behavior in crisis. Research limitations/implications In this study the access of reliable information is limited. Practical implications This paper provides an operation model with uncertainty in a humanitarian crisis and a decision-making tool with some recommendation for further public policies. Originality/value This study presents a model for decision makers in a low-income zone and highlights the importance of preparedness in the humanitarian system. This paper expands the discussion of how the mathematical models and human behaviors interact with different perspectives in a humanitarian crisis.