A Case Study based Investigation into Effective Humanitarian Operations in Natural Disasters Implications for theory and practice

Abstract

The role of humanitarian operations (HO) has become increasingly important in recent newlineyears owing to a rise in the number of high-impact natural hazards leading to disasters. newlinePost-disaster HO are extremely challenging because of their complexity. Addressing newlinethese challenges require interventions in multiple dimensions such as shelter, food and newlinemedical supplies and social and psychological support. A cross-disciplinary inquiry is newlinerequired to understand the approaches for effectively addressing these challenges. Extant research have mainly examined these issues from the perspectives of a single discipline such as management, engineering or social sciences. This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to inquire into the operational, organizational and implementation aspects of HO. Specifically, it examines the organizational and operational elements, implementation strategies and timelines of various interventions through an inductive, case study based empirical investigation of the HO by an NGO in India. Three possible frameworks are proposed. Each of the proposed frameworks addresses a different gap in current HO research. The first addresses the gaps in our understanding of organizational capabilities and the foundational elements for these capabilities. The second focuses on expanding the knowledge base for implementation design for more context-based strategies. The third offers a context-based understanding of the timings and timelines for interventions. The three proposed frameworks draw elements from multiple disciplines to propose a holistic approach to humanitarian operations in natural disasters. newline newline