Humanitarian Supply Chain: ALAN Responds To Hurricane Delta

“This is when the hardest work begins”

Subscriber: Log Out

As Texas and Louisiana start to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Delta, the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) is gearing up to provide support – and hoping that members of the logistics community will be just as willing to help with the 25th named storm of the season as they were with the first.

“Our hearts go out to all of the people on the Gulf Coast who’ve been affected,” said ALAN Executive Director Kathy Fulton. “In a year with an unprecedented number of named storms, this is an incredible blow to a region that has already been very hard hit.”

During the past week, ALAN has been sharing real-time updates about Hurricane Delta’s supply chain impacts via its Supply Chain Intelligence Center (https://www.alanaid.org/resources/). And later this week it expects to begin receiving its first Hurricane Delta logistics relief requests.

“This is when the hardest work for ALAN begins – because as relief organizations get in and assess the damage, they’ll be asking us for a great deal of help,” said Fulton, who stressed that every case ALAN handles is tied to a specific need and that many hurricane relief efforts take place over a long period of time. “In light of that, we encourage people to access our Disaster Micro-site’s active needs section (www.alanaid.org/operations/) often in the weeks and months ahead – and not just for Hurricane Delta. We also hope that people will answer our calls or e-mails if we come to them with a direct request.

“Additionally, we ask people not to self-deploy or participate in product collection drives,” Fulton said. “Too often, these well-meaning efforts get in the way of the organized relief and response efforts that are already taking place – and create more challenges than they solve. If organizations truly want to help, a cash donation is usually best.”

Hurricane Delta made landfall in Southwest Louisiana late Friday, bringing additional rainfall, flooding and damage to towns that were just beginning recovery efforts for Hurricane Laura. It is the sixth storm ALAN has mobilized for this fall, which has proven to be one of the busiest hurricane seasons in the organization’s 15-year history.

“We know most people have hurricane and disaster fatigue, because this has been a year like no other,” said Fulton. “However we hope they have it in them to help the Gulf Coast at least one more time, because the transportation services, warehousing space, forklifts, boxes and other support we provide can make a hugely positive difference to so many. ALAN certainly isn’t relaxing our efforts, and we hope they won’t either.”

SC
MR

Latest Resources
Inventory Management and the Supply Chain: Outlook 2025
Jason Miller, Eli Broad Endowed Professor of Supply Chain Management and Interim Chairperson of the Department of Supply Chain Management within…
Read more

Subscribe

Supply Chain Management Review delivers the best industry content.
Subscribe today and get full access to all of Supply Chain Management Review’s exclusive content, email newsletters, premium resources and in-depth, comprehensive feature articles written by the industry's top experts on the subjects that matter most to supply chain professionals.
×

Search

Search

Sourcing & Procurement

Inventory Management Risk Management Global Trade Ports & Shipping

Business Management

Supply Chain TMS WMS 3PL Government & Regulation Sustainability Finance

Software & Technology

Artificial Intelligence Automation Cloud IoT Robotics Software

The Academy

Executive Education Associations Institutions Universities & Colleges

Resources

Podcasts Webcasts Companies Visionaries White Papers Special Reports Premiums Magazine Archive

Subscribe

SCMR Magazine Newsletters Magazine Archives Customer Service

Press Releases

Press Releases Submit Press Release