This Paper has won First Prize in "Opsyrus 2006", the CoolAvenues.com - OIG (IIM Lucknow) Paper Writing Competition held during Oct-Dec 2006.

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Executive Summary

The oldest concern of human race has been to cope up with wrath of nature. Added to that, in past centuries, is the disasters inflicted on its fellows by the human itself. Still it is surprising to see how less the research and coverage has been given to this issue. It is now well understood that the field is not only important for loss of persons but also has business implications.
In past years emergency management has seen a flurry of research dealing with sociological issues. What is probably lost out is the efficient and effective resource utilization in the face of emergency.

A lot of research and case studies are carried out regarding disaster preparedness, risk mitigation and post-recovery. However much of the research deals with issues like organizational structure, safety norms, infrastructure, etc but most of which is wishful thinking and policies. Once disaster has struck supply chain issues like disaster relief, evacuation and managing supply and logistics take a front role. This highly important issue is not been dealt with detail and much of the literature is still fragmented.

In this paper, we have tried to develop a framework which would be useful in building a responsive supply chain in the face of disaster. We have drawn inferences from various cases, government policies and NGO experiences. We have tried to tie them up in a professional decision making tool that is highly needed for the quick response and coordination.

Still it is far from complete and the complexity can only be tapped by having an active research in the field.

Introduction

Disaster Management

Disaster is a a serious disruption of functioning of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses, which exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own resources.¹

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* Contributed by: -
Abhishek Siroya & Hemant Joshi,
IIM Lucknow.