The Indian Ocean tsunamis in 2004. Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And now, Haiti. All high-profile disasters that put the world’s collective logistics capabilities, and shortcomings, on grand display.

Each disaster gives logisticians a chance to learn how to do it better next time, however every situation is unique. In a poverty-plagued country like Haiti, the lack of adequate infrastructure coupled with the severity of the damage made the ‘last mile’ logistics of getting the generous outpouring of aid to those affected exceedingly difficult. The badly damaged seaport and reliance on a single, crowded airport added to the difficulty.

Yet, there were a number of important developments in the response to the Haiti earthquake that could be very illustrative for the logistics community. One, CrisisCamp Haiti, caught my attention because it’s a great example of pure grassroots organization with a high-tech spin. CrisisCamps are the get-togethers of Crisis Commons, an international volunteer network of professionals from tech companies, universities, and government agencies who create technological tools for disaster responders.

“It’s kind of like the way Doctors Without Borders might go and help,” explained Gabriela Schneider, a staff member of the Sunlight Foundation, the group that hosted the first Washington, D.C. meeting of CrisisCamp Haiti. Initially, there were six CrisisCamps held in various U.S. cities, but the effort grew to 12 cities in four countries.

Among other things, the CrisisCamp Haiti volunteers were able to quickly post current information on collaborative maps of the country and developed a Craigslist-style online exchange to manage aid and resources.

“This is getting out of the red tape-getting out of the corporate inefficiency-and just having one common purpose and being very agile,” said one of the CrisisCamp Haiti volunteers.

Secondly, it was really interesting to see how valuable social media became following the Haiti earthquake. Facebook, and especially Twitter, suddenly became the main communication tools. Coincidentally, the U.S. Geological Survey just recently started work on its project called TED-or Twitter Earthquake Detection program. According to one of the scientists involved in the program, “Twitter reports often precede the USGS’s publically released, scientifically verified earthquake alerts,” which can give scientists a jump on analyzing an event. The scientists are also exploring the possibility of using Twitter to broadcast USGS earthquake alerts.

Community. Connectivity. Flexibility. Communication. These are the attributes that define the world’s best supply chains, and we’re getting better at putting these attributes into play during disasters too, even when we do it rather unconventionally.

It’s also important to recognize groups like ALAN, the American Logistics Aid Network, and others like them in the logistics community that use their expertise to get aid into disaster areas.

We’ll continue to monitor the logistics side of the story and will report on what we we’ve learned in future issues. And if there’s anything you’d like to share on this topic, feel free to contact us.



Lara L. Sowinski, Editor

laras@worldtradewt100.com