Agile 72 hours Response to Disaster
Great innovation does not necessarily follow a pattern. An excellent 72 hours response may not be seen on a well-represented proposal. But I will try to present my thought in this way, using the principle of Agility and Flexibility, hoping to achieve customer satisfaction. We were told that “Agility means using market knowledge and a virtual corporation to exploit profitable opportunities in a volatile marketplace.” Naylor et al. (1999). Over the years, we have seen how the humanitarian agencies and non for profit organization have responded to crisis. We have also seen the impact of their presence after crisis. Some responses no doubt were lifesaving while others were life threatening. Amid humanitarian support is the trauma of political interest, donor ear marking, and quest for visibility.
Two main ways of managing disaster are:
• Pre-crisis preparedness; this could mean gathering of early warning information and prepositioning. This will no doubt increase agility and flexibility for the next phase.
• During crisis response; the immediate response is usually characterized of push and pull logistics. To reduce the waste of push and pull, an on-ground assessment and implementation is important.
Based on the definition of agility above, a 72 hours response should focus on life-saving agile actions, considering these key points.
• Knowledge
• Virtual Corporations
• Identification of opportunities

Knowledge of what
Knowledge of the of the volatile market, which includes, the environment under crisis, the players, the politics, the donors, the miscreants, the government, the demography, the indigenous resources to mention but few. Study everything. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Don’t jump into the bus except you know the direction its going.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS ON ARRIVAL
I have based my thinking on Indonesia Tsunami Response. The Indonesia tsunami disaster response affected Sumatra province. The people in these areas were displaced to various locations. Humanitarian actors were on ground at about 72 hours of occurrence. Relief materials were sourced offshore from various countries like India, USA, Canada, Australia and Germany and locally from Jakarta and Medan. Offshore supplies were delivered by air to Jakarta, Medan and Banda Aceh. High volume distribution is recorded from Medan and Jakarta by road, sea and air to Banda Aceh. There is an integrated supply chain activity at Banda Aceh where the storage facility is currently situated. Main source of in country transportation is by air, road and sea using limited transportation and storage facilities. Supplies are distributed from Banda Aceh to Melaboh, Kepong, Singkil and Ule Kareng. Distribution at the final destination is coordinated by the local authority (this information is derived from Prof. Gerald De vellier’s case study, Universita Della Svizzera, Italiana).
The flow of information is clearly stated as a key challenge and communication was almost impossible due to destruction of communication links.
72 hours actions will be centred on:
1. Information gathering and Dissemination (study the map)
2. Cooperation and collaboration
3. Coordination of supply chain processes
4. Inventory and warehouse management
5. Transportation and distribution network design
6. Establishment of feedback mechanism; End user monitoring and reporting

Information gathering and dissemination
For every successful project, one of the key success factors is accurate information. Some information required will be;
• The total number of persons displaced
• The proportion of displaced men, women and children
• Current resettlement centres
• Number of person at each location
• Resources available
• Age group of the affected population.
• Other humanitarian actors present and their contributions
• Coordination activities
This will help in determining the quantity and type of commodities truly needed by the community. It will also help in designing network and establishing the distribution centres. Then waste due to excessive transportation and movement can be eliminated. In addition we also need information on other stakeholders and their responsibilities. This information put together will help in knowing the real need of the affected people and guide in achieving the right delivery, at the place, with right quantity and quality at the right times. While the push and pull system is ongoing more information can be obtained using PESTLE analysis to ascertain the political, economic, social, technological, legal and ecological environment of Indonesia as a country, this could be useful in the allocation of funds and strategic supply chain implementation. The information obtained will then be disseminated to appropriate stakeholders to make informed decisions. It could also serve as background information for reporting to donors. SWOT analysis could also be useful in studying the internal environment, to see the strength, weakness, threat and opportunities available for use.
Establishment of feedback mechanism
To show evidence of delivery, the delivery waybill has to be documented together with receipt note which will be signed by the local authorities showing that they have received commodities. A random spot check could be done and documented to know what more the people want and what is not done well. For every successful project key performance indicators could be a great tool for measuring outcomes and reporting. Some of the indicator in this case could be;
• Orders delivered on time
• number of people treated at a given time
• and many others.
For the purpose of reporting we can also measure using management indicators as follows;
Measurement target description Expected outcome
Resource utilisation Total cost of resources utilised To avoid cost overrun
Output On time delivery To ensure that commodities are delivered in time
Shipping error To avoid or reduce reverse logistics and delay of deliveries
Customer satisfaction To ensure that the overall objective of saving life is achieved
Agility and flexibility of strategy Meet up with fluctuating demands To improve customer satisfaction
Meeting up with emerging incidence Achieving customers satisfaction
Reference
• Prof. Gerald De vellier’s case study, Universita Della Svizzera, Italiana
• Naylor et al. (1999)