In a relief chain, materials should be supplied before the actual demand is estimated. Uncertainty in demand estimation may lead to oversupply/undersupply of materials

Demand variation typically lasts until the situation stabilizes at the disaster site, post which demand can be estimated better

The lead time for a relief chain is almost zero. The material flow in the supply chain and the related operations need to be speeded up

Disaster being a one time event, the supply chain setup is temporary. Moreover, any previous supply chains that may have existed might have been destroyed due to the disaster

Relief chain is a multi commodity chain. Different commodities have different lifespan, different production times, but use the same distribution, logistics, warehousing resources. Optimizing these supply chains for efficiency in supplying all these commodities is a challenge.

Donating / Supplying what is perceived as needed against what is actually needed
      * Leads to spending time on sorting these items
      * Logistics being clogged with uncritical items
      * Resources wasted in destroying spoilt / unnecessary / duplicated items