Effective Supply Chain During Natural Disasters

Supply Chain Management is the backbone of any economy. Failure in smooth supply chain management is a phenomenon witnessed during natural disasters. A natural disaster like the recent pandemic has forced almost every country to go into lock down, forcing a major disruption in supply chain. But the demand for critical supplies like essential medicines, ventilators, PPE’s (Personal Protection Equipment), Rapid testing kits and other essential amenities has been high while shortages have been reported due to a sudden increase in the need for its manufacturing and absence of a well-defined supply chain that can ensure its arrival to all the necessary customers—in this case countries where the rate of infection is high. Supply of food materials and transport of farm products is another disruption the world experience. Tourism, hospitality and aviation were reported to be the worst affected segments due to the closure of factories and the resulting delay in import of raw materials, semi-raw materials and products from China and other world markets. For the world economy to resurge, stringent focus has to be given to the SCM with a focus on resilience and viability. During these testing times, Humanitarian Aid (HA) supply chains are a priority. In this review paper, authors aim to identify various resilience strengthening factors in the face of sudden disruptions, the role of HA supply chains in strengthening the response required in view of a disaster and a proposed model to tackle the disruptions during natural disasters and pandemics. Special focus is attributed to agricultural supply chain and a model is also proposed. Proposed model would help the stake holders to deploy similar technology into other fields as well.