Learning Curve / By Paul D. Larson and Ron McLachlin
Cyclone Nargis (the Urdu word for daffodil) hit the Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar on May 2. High winds, heavy rain and flood waters took tens of thousands of lives and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in southwestern Myanmar.
Urgent priorities for the Red Cross and its humanitarian partners are providing survivors with shelter and access to clean drinking water. Immediately following the storm, the Myanmar Red Cross began assessing the damage and caring for survivors' needs by distributing clothing, blankets, cookware and drinking water.
The University of Manitoba Transport Institute hosted a day-long conference this week to address issues in supply chain management, including the question of how business logistics can be adapted for humanitarian concerns.
This may seem a bit esoteric, but it is of immense importance today, given what has occurred half a world away. The conference expanded supply chain thinking beyond business to an emphasis on social objectives and beyond stability to places where supply chain interruptions are the norm.
Many days after the storm, Myanmar's ruling military junta still refused to grant entry visas to disaster relief experts to conduct needs assessments, commence relief operations and reach increasingly desperate survivors. The United Nations, along with foreign governments and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), rushed supplies to the region.
Most of this material is being held outside Myanmar awaiting the junta's permission to deliver it via airlift. Some diplomats suggest Myanmar is ready to accept aid shipments with a condition: that the government, rather than foreign disaster relief experts, distribute the supplies.
Meanwhile, cyclone survivors are facing poor sanitation, no shelter and a shortage of drinking water. Flooding could lead to outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever, along with water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Babies and their elderly grandparents are particularly vulnerable.
In addition, the impact of Nargis on food supplies could be long-lasting since the country's rice-growing heartland was hit hard.
In the I. H. Asper School of Business, one of our research foci is the humanitarian supply chain.
For the business logistician, time is money; to the humanitarian, time is life.
Business logisticians co-ordinate their efforts with suppliers, customers and colleagues. Humanitarians deal with suppliers, customers and colleagues, other NGOs, donors, often with strings attached to their donations, the media, multiple national governments, at multiple levels, local community groups, national militaries, militias and more. It's a large cast of characters in a chaotic theatre.
Supply chain organizations are either for-profit, such as Safeway Canada, or not-for-profit, such as Winnipeg Harvest. While for-profit businesses focus on economic objectives, not-for-profits emphasize social objectives such as enhancing food security.
Supply chain entities operate in either uninterrupted or interrupted environments. Let us be thankful that today, Manitoba is an uninterrupted environment, meaning it is stable in terms of political and economic conditions and transportation infrastructure (highways, railways and airports) is mostly in place.
By contrast, due to Cyclone Nargis, the environment in Myanmar is interrupted, unstable and desperate.
As business logisticians, this is the time to look at our practices and ask ourselves some pertinent questions. What can we do to make a difference for the victims of Nargis? How can we overcome obstacles in transporting urgently needed supplies and aid so as to save the lives of people desperate for our help?
The Learning Curve is an occasional column written by local academics who are experts in their fields. It is open to any educator from one of Winnipeg's post-secondary institutions. Send 600- to 800-word submissions and a mini bio to learningcurve.freepress.mb.ca.
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