Reserve Storage and Transport

Logistics in Storage and Transportation

The gathering, storage, and transportation of supplies, and distributing them to the disaster scene, are major logistics matters faced by disaster management personnel. Transport can be a particularly significant hurdle, as natural disasters have such a high likelihood of interfering with transportation infrastructure, either temporarily (minor flooding or fires), or long-term (flooding of areas without drainage and physical damage).

Supplies often come from charitable organizations, which store goods either specifically for humanitarian efforts, or for ongoing, nonemergent charitable work. For instance, food banks are charitable organizations that distribute food to a variety of organizations that feed the hungry, and include orphanages, homeless shelters, halfway houses, soup kitchens, and disaster relief organizations.

Typically, a food bank will run a centralized warehouse for a specific city, which acts as a collection and distribution point. The food bank may deliver food, or simply make it available for collection, depending on its arrangement with the destination organization. The food being stored is typically nonperishable and donated. Though canned food drives are held, especially in times of great need following a major disaster, most donated food actually comes from for-profit companies, in a variety of forms. Supermarkets and other retailers may donate canned goods that are nearing (or past) the expiration date, in which case food banks work with suppliers using specific guidelines in order to ensure that their food is safe. Food producers may donate goods that are undesirable for sale for some reason (such as a result of packaging errors or misprints, or because of a surplus harvest that would depress prices in the open market).

In the United States, there is a long history of government programs that purchase excess agricultural goods—milk, cheese, meat, and produce—in order to reduce the supply available on the open market and thus preserve prices at a profitable level for agricultural producers. Many of the goods purchased by these programs are redistributed to food banks. In some cases, food banks also purchase food from wholesalers, typically at reduced prices. Some food banks work with specific kinds of organizations, like orphanages and children's charities, or gather food to be shipped overseas; others work with any organization in their area.

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