Citation

McClintock A. J. Conting. Crisis Manage. 2009; 17(4): 295-302.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-5973.2009.00587.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Well‐ managed logistics (an effective supply‐chain), is central to any disaster response. Professionalism of this discipline – in theory and in practice ‐ has improved much western manufacturing and distribution. In emergencies, especially when they occur in the third world, where the infrastructure is less developed and there is urgent pressure for results, it is different: at the high level especially, as in United Nations' Joint Logistics Centre, there is attention to good practice, but more is needed in the operations of Non‐Governmental Organisations (NGOs). This article, written in the light of both theoretical study of the discipline and practical experience of African and Asian field‐logistics, describes some of its distinctive features, when finely‐pitched arrangements do not work.