posted on 2017-06-08, 07:06authored byPerry, Marcia
The purpose of the paper is to outline and discuss key logistical challenges faced by humanitarian agencies in the immediate provision of relief to the victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami disaster in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The research method entailed interviews in Australia with senior managers in five organisations providing post-tsunami humanitarian aid in the regions and the analysis of secondary data. The interview findings indicated numerous logistical challenges faced by the aid organisations such as infrastructure devastation and bottlenecks of goods in warehouses. Compounding factors included the lack of logistics experts on the ground and the lack of information sharing and coordination amongst aid providers and with the local people. This paper presents an overview of important findings from the primary and secondary research, mainly emphasising interviewee responses concerning logistics-related challenges as well as an overview of secondary data findings.