Comments on: Logistics questions around the Haiti earthquake

By: Michael Keizer

Michael Keizer — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 22:50:54 +0000

Thanks for that insider's view, Robion! Much of what you say is echoed by others that I have talked with. Concerning MSF's outspokenness around these issues: you might be interested in this presentation from Avril Benoît, who coordinated MSF's media effort around the Haiti response, including the Twitter 'campaign' around airport access:

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:17:06 +0000

Hi Michael-
I am 15 year disaster logistician, 10 years in humanitarian agencies. Thanks for blogging on these topics. I very much agree with your assessment that there are always logistics challenges, and an increased culture of logistics preparedness is the best way forward for ‘helping better.’ I would add that I also felt as though the US Govt was waving this proclamation of ‘the logistics are challenging’ due to a lack of US understanding that challenging logistics is pretty standard in underdeveloped disasters; and due to an overall naive approach by Americans that domestic assumptions and ways of operating would work in Haiti. This approach led to much greater challenges . In particular, the US military beelined for taking over the PaP airport with the Haiti Govt, and once permitted (3 days in), the lack of coordination with the international aid community made access near impossible for INGOs. (See some of the press from the outspoken MSF.) In the Tsunami, the US military as much more cooperative with the humanitarian community and USAID–perhaps because it was one of many militaries vs holdign overwhelming domination– to support airlift priority based on assessed needs, and directed air assets in order of the agreed priority. In the case of Haiti, once the US military took control of the airport, prioritization was inadequate and misaligned. This mechanism remained at the whims of an inexperienced crew, until weeks into the response after much pressure from our community. Hence, The PaP gate, which was allowing approximately 100 flights in a day, was made wide open to a) the outpouring of domestic charities with no international experience, as well b) high level dignitaries-many of these 2 categories were unprepared for a non-America environment, and became themselves in need of aid. And finally, c) military filled 50% of the pipeline to bring in construction assets for building another runway (not the usual priority when people need food, water and medical). INGOs were forced to resort to entry via DR to avoid this small catastrophe, and work around the thousands of inexperienced people creating greater chaos and taking up the precious logistics resources.

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » 6 questions you should ask before donating goods overseas

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:32:33 +0000

[...] Logistics questions around the Haiti earthquake – A Humourless Lot – discusses the logistical challenges of moving goods after a disaster and the problems caused by unneeded goods [...]

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » Posts and articles written by aid workers related to the Haiti relief efforts

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:20:34 +0000

[...] Logistics questions around the Haiti earthquake – A Humourless Lot – discusses the importance of good logistics to the success of relief work, common logistical challenges, and how this relates to Haiti [...]

By: Good Intentions Are Not Enough » Blog Archive » Why aid is slow getting to Haiti

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:09:16 +0000

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Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:48:15 +0000

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Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:36:31 +0000

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Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:11:32 +0000

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By: Michael Keizer

Michael Keizer — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:23:56 +0000

@Claire Thanks, Claire! As you can imagine, I totally agree with you concerning unwanted donations. I have written a bit before about the challenges of reverse logistics in aid, and I am sure I will give it more attention in the future. In the mean time, I would recommend that everybody who is interested in the issues around unwanted donations have a look at Claire's very well-written blog post, and at the comments below it. Other good sources are this post at Saundra Schimmelpfennig's blog Good intentions are not enough; and this guest post by Alanna Shaikh on Aid Watch.

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:50:04 +0000

This is a great piece, very well written. I am a logistician myself working in disaster management. I feel very strongly about the harm that sending unwanted goods to a disaster zone does. It’s really great that people want to help but you have to have worked there to really realise why it is actually a hinderance. I’ve written more about it in my blog http://blogs.redcross.org.uk/emergencies/2010/01/help-not-hinder-haiti/