The Point of No Return: Adaptation Strategies in Disaster Donation Supply Chains
Publication: Natural Hazards Review
Volume 23, Issue 1
Abstract
In the aftermath of disasters, material convergence (the influx of material donations) can cause extreme negative impacts and has been described as a second disaster. Donations that are nonpriority or low-priority goods, or in excess of need, can have negative impacts on transportation into and storage within the affected area. For routine supply chains, successful supply access partially lies in the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This paper draws on data collected after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and two tornadoes outside of Oklahoma City in May 2013. Interviews were conducted with individual actors in emergent donation supply chains to understand how they made and understood the effectiveness of their efforts and later coded for how central adaptability is viewed for achieving this success. A critical finding in our study was that how actors in the supply chain define success influences whether or not adaptation is construed as necessary or important, generating important implications for how to best confront the challenge of nonpriority items entering into the emergent disaster relief supply chain to the point of no return.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions. Interview audio recordings and transcripts: with IRB approval permission from the directors of the Disaster Research Center. Field notes: with IRB approval permission from the directors of the Disaster Research Center.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Natural Hazards Review
Volume 23 • Issue 1 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 18, 2020
Accepted: Aug 25, 2021
Published online: Sep 29, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2022
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