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We are helping countries to be prepared before and during emergency events

Creating transparency for logistics and support system experience

LSS is supported by a network of national and regional professionals

Problems with the arrival of unsolicited supplies

One of the main problems confronting national authorities is accurately identifying which relief supplies have arrived.

In the aftermath of a disaster, one of the main problems confronting national authorities is accurately identifying which relief supplies have arrived, where they have been stored, and how useful they are. Often, well-meaning but misinformed donors send items that are not particularly useful, given the nature of the emergency as well as conditions on the ground.

Strictly speaking, this is a technical problem, but it has serious repercussions for policy implementation when taking into account the following factors:

  • All too frequently, the storage space, transportation, and human resources dedicated to relief supply management are scarce, and thus must be allocated as efficiently as possible.
  • Technical information about arriving supplies is often lacking, making it harder to distribute them.
  • Because of these problems, the donors and the media receive a negative impression of relief management efforts, through no fault of the disaster managers themselves.

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