Strengthening Post-Hurricane Supply Chain Resilience Observations from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria (2020) / Chapter Skim
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4 Strategies to Foster More Effective Conveyance and Distribution of Critical Relief and Recovery Supplies
4 Strategies to Foster More Effective Conveyance and Distribution of Critical Relief and Recovery Supplies
Pages 51-84
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From page 51... ...
Shift the focus from pushing relief supplies to ensuring that regular supply chains are restored as rapidly as possible through strategic interventions.
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These competing demands can quickly outstrip the supply of resources. Immediately following the storm, commercial supply chains can be disrupted because inbound shipments of restocking material may be delayed and critical infrastructure may be damaged.
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In contrast, after a catastrophe local social networks are likely to be severely disrupted, available supplies will be minimal, private-sector supply chains may be out of operation for weeks, there will be a huge increase in demand for sup plies, and a complex distribution effort will be required to satisfy the needs of both survivors and the responders. In looking at the 2017 hurricane season, one could label the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as the closest to an example of a catastrophe.Yet even in this case, while local response capacity and commerce were severely compromised, they were not "destroyed," and many busi nesses and supply chains proved surprisingly resilient.
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From page 54... ...
On a simple level, however, one could argue that the most direct measure of success for post-hurricane supply chain resilience is how quickly and fully the local supply chains can bounce back to their normal pre-storm conditions. This goal is distinct from aiming to maximize the throughput of relief supply chains.
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Critical infrastructure (e.g., power, telecommunications, transportation, roads, bridges, water) enables the operations of all supply chains.
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Figure 4.1 illustrates the diverse and highly interdependent information-gathering, preparedness, and response actions and needs involved in building resilient supply chains before, during, and after a disaster strikes. The reference to "supply chain dynamics" used here refers to this dynamic system, which stretches across multiple sectors, temporally across the different stages of the "disaster cycle," and spatially across local, state, national, and global-scale governance and supply chains.
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Understanding Supply, Demand, and Critical Infrastructure to Inform Preparedness and Response Building system-scale understanding of supply chains requires collecting and assessing information that elucidates how critical goods and services flow into, through, and out of a given area -- and how major disruptions such as hurricanes can affect these flows. Particularly important is assessment of information related to supply and demand and to critical infrastructure, each discussed below.
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The lack of redundancy in overall manufacturing capacity makes this a highly vulnerable supply chain (Mazer-Amirshahi and Fox, 2018) .2 Supply chains rely on critical infrastructure such as power, communication, transportation facilities (e.g., roads, airports, ports)
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Emergency management officials need system-level information and decision support tools to better understand when to phase out of relief supply chains and how to most strategically intervene to help commercial supply chains resume in a timely manner. • As discussed under Recommendation 3 (below)
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Hence, debris management activities could significantly benefit from better data collection, quantitative models, and decision-support tools. Examples of such tools include the following: • The incidence waste management tool provides information and guidance to ensure the safe and efficient removal, transport, and management of waste materials.b • Light detection and ranging (LiDAR)
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In addition, the development of quantitative models embedded into simple decision-support tools can improve the timeliness, cost, and effectiveness of debris management decisions at all stages of the disaster management timeline. a See https://www.epa.gov/large-scale-residential-demolition/disaster-debris-planning.
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For example, as noted above, many critical supply chains are dependent on the functioning of critical infrastructure such as energy supply (electricity, fuels) , and in turn the energy sector is often dependent on the functioning of communications, water, and transportation systems.
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Flooding and damage to critical infrastructure also greatly impeded the distribution of food, water, and medical supplies. Example 4: During Hurricane Irma, a fueling center located near Ft.
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The answers to these questions will vary a great deal depending upon the location of study, the hazards of key concern, the supply chains of critical interest, and other factors, and it can in fact take months or years of work to design such systems. As more general illustrative guidance, however, we point to several examples of these sorts of tools that are already being developed and applied in a variety of disaster and hazard management contexts (see list below, as well as Box 4.3)
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Focused on the problem of shortages of key pharmaceutical drugs in the United States, they developed an integrated simulation framework that can predict how disruptions may cascade through pharmaceutical supply chains and that allows one to "integrate sophisticated supply chain models with realistic, yet computationally tractable, models of human decision making." • Mendonça and Wallace (2004, 2007) examine the importance of flexibility and capacity to improvise in responding to disasters; and develop a set of requirements for computer-based systems to provide cognitive-level support for improvisation in response to extreme events.
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, support pre-disaster assessment of the criticality, vulnerability, and dependencies of key supply chain nodes, links, and supporting infrastructure; and develop protocols and systems for gathering and regularly updating information about demand, supply, infrastructure condition, and supply chain functionality. Many private sector supply chains already utilize sophisti cated tools for sensing supply and demand changes, system bottlenecks and vulnerabili ties, and other critical information.
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Emergency Preparedness and Continuity of Operations Plans and Resources Over the past decade, business continuity planning has expanded significantly, particularly in advance of hurricane season, because of growing pressure for companies to recover quickly (often within hours) after a storm hits and to maintain significant capabilities during disaster conditions.6 Such plans need to be regularly reviewed and updated to prepare for potential catastrophic events that affect widespread geographic areas and affect critical infrastructure.
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During tight fuel markets, customers with contractual agreements may be given priority to purchase an allotted level of fuel based on previous historical purchases at their fuel supply facility or terminal. According to the National Association of State Energy Officials, "prior to any disruption, states may wish to consider training critical user organizations about the differences in spot and contractual purchases and the issues and techniques that can be used to balance price versus security of supply" (NASEO, 2018)
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Example: After Hurricane Maria, more than 95 percent of cell signal towers in Puerto Rico were out of service (FCC, 2018) , and emergency management officials reported how their staff operated "blindly" for a number of days and thus were not able to adequately respond due to lack of communications.
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In 2016, DHS also issued its Critical Infrastructure Threat Information Sharing Framework to help key stakeholders understand threats information and protect critical infrastructure systems. Stakeholders include critical infrastructure owners and operators;10 government entities at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels; and other public and private partners with responsibility for the security and/or resilience of critical infrastructure systems.
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The State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council and the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council are examples of two councils focused on shortand long-term priorities in critical infrastructure resilience. The State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council serves as a forum for different levels of government to coordinate across jurisdictions in national critical infrastructure security and resilience efforts, and the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council is a cross-sector council that provides a framework to support regional public-private partnerships including information sharing and networking.
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This allowed for real-time conversation regarding issues common to all supply chains, as well as information exchange between FEMA Logistics Management Divisions' senior leadership and commercial supply chain professionals and industry association leaders. Several key initiatives for information sharing among critical sectors are led by the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center, which serves as the private sector's connection to the security and resilience programs led and coordinated by DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.16 The National Infrastructure Coordinating Center supports the critical infrastructure community through its Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN, 2019)
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Several formal and informal mechanisms for coordination and information sharing, within and across sectors, were utilized during the 2017 hurricane season, with varying levels of efficacy. Below is an overview of some of the key platforms used, focusing in particular on activities to foster coordination and information sharing between government emergency management agencies and private sector businesses.
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• Sector- and industry-specific phone conferences as well as problem-specific task forces were utilized to focus on challenges affecting a particular business segment or issues that benefit from expert knowledge. This included groups dedicated to the res toration of power and groups focused on information and resource requirements for owners and operators of private sector supply chains.
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For instance, businesses with pre-existing relationships and connections to government emergency management structures are generally able to get their issues considered and resolved more easily than others. There can also be challenges of different engagement mechanisms competing for attention from the business community, with some private sector representatives being overwhelmed with requests to participate in calls at the state level, at the federal level, within their sector, and for a problem-specific task force.
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During Hurricane Harvey it coordinated helicopter delivery of supplies to hospitals given the widespread flooding that blocked normal truck deliveries. And during Hurricane Maria, it assisted with communicating the needs and challenges of drug and medical device manufacturers that were critical to national supply chains.
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• Plan for the fuel supply required for a large-scale evacuation and response, and ensure that adequate supplies are strategically positioned along evacuation routes. • Develop plans to address the needs of workforce personnel and their families during disasters, including adequate backup human resources to address "personnel fatigue." • Educate public officials, policy makers, and response personnel on key lifeline-sector supply chains and how they work, to facilitate better decision making, help manage expectations, and foster effective response planning (discussed in the following section)
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We emphasize that many of the actions listed above involve not only FEMA, but also state and local government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and business and industry owners and operators. 4.4 PROVIDING ESSENTIAL TRAINING Most stakeholders engaged in emergency management traditionally come from governmental organizations such as the military, law enforcement, fire service, or other federal or 20 Edison Electric Institute: http://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/mutualassistance/Pages/default.aspx; American Water Work Association: https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/AWWA/Government/HarveyIrmaAARFINAL.pdf; Association of State and Territorial Health Official: http://www.astho.org/Programs/Preparedness/Public-HealthEmergency-Law/Emergency-Authority-and-Immunity-Toolkit/Mutual-Aid-and-Assistance-Agreements-Fact-Sheet/.
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This educational process could cover many of the basic supply chain concepts that are discussed in Chapter 2 of this report, along with the following types of content: • an overview of private sector and nonprofit supply chains for key commodities, and their interdependencies; • an analysis of the critical infrastructure sectors supporting supply chains, such as transportation; electricity generation and transmission; communication technolo gies; fuel refining, storage, and delivery; municipal water supply and wastewater; and financial systems; • an overview of the ways that disasters can impact tax structures and other revenue sources at the federal, state, and local levels; • a review of how the laws and regulations governing disaster operations can impact supply chains (e.g., price gouging laws, restrictions on governmental support for private sector organizations) ; • an awareness of the human resources (staffing levels and types)
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Among the many trends highlighted, the following are some examples that could be particularly important with respect to supply chains and disaster response: • App-based services, including transportation services such as Uber and Lyft, are providing new options for consumers. These services are used not only for passenger travel but also some times for freight.
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This means that overall electric grid resilience in emergencies will be increasingly important, along with the rapid recovery of charging infrastructure. Over the past few decades, the emergence of "big box" retailers dramatically impacted the sophistication of supply chains.
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• What organization, at what level, has the most appropriate, timely, and cost-effective resources to rectify a given disruption? This level of attention to macro- and microeconomic conditions during disasters, while not traditional, is entirely appropriate for emergency management training, given that elected officials and the public often demand accountability for ensuring that disaster response resources are optimally utilized.
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Develop and administer training on supply chain dynam ics and best practices for private-public partnerships that enhance supply chain resilience. Some key steps and strategies to advance this recommendation are to • Provide all stakeholders engaged in emergency management of disasters with at least a base level of training about supply chain dynamics, and provide senior decision makers, elected officials, and governmental financial officers with advanced training that focuses on the economic impacts of disasters -- all phases, not just recovery.
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