Table 4 Codes related to logistics... | Emerald Publishing

Table 4

Codes related to logistics challenges

Categories	Sub-categories	Representative quotes
Challenges associated with needs assessment	Inaccurate needs assessment	“Every single person carrying camera to video the scenes, and without real needs assessment, bulk of items delivered to the spot suddenly, while not even necessary.” (10) “With this crowd we were not able to do needs assessment and planning; large amount food items and heaters for a week, while we faced with lack of other necessary items such as sanitary kits” (12) “Inaccurate information was shared publicly, and led to lack of trust between people, government agencies and other responsible HAs” (29)
	Lack of shared data on needs	“We believed if we shared our data on needs assessment with other actors, they would be misused for their own interest. Thus, we hesitated to share data in certain circumstances. So, if we provide them such information, our warehouse for example will be empty quickly” (23) “Some needs assessment reports were not reliable, and we were not able to refer to them, thus we did not rely on them and we did assessment based on our own observation as we coordinated with three charities presented in the field to do observation” (24)
	Dynamic nature of needs	“… needs assessment is dynamic meaning that it changes over time. For example, we received the information on local needs in morning with different statistics, and then later during noon, and evening time, or tomorrow we will receive different needs assessment report” (33) “Burnt information or outdated information on needs were disseminated too much among groups and actors in the network that increased cost of our operations” (19)
Challenges associated with procurement, warehousing and transportation	Lack of pre-positioning relief items	“Prior to the disaster, local warehouses of HAs, were empty of prepositioned items in Kermanshah” (28) “We faced increased on prices in local market as black market was created, selling tents and blanket in high prices” (35)
	Lack of coordination in procurement	“… there was lack of coordination between government organizations (e.g., water and power organizations), private sector and municipality at villages, and province level to procure and install mobile public toilet and shower” (17) As the government agencies, military and NGOs operated independently with less coordination, many procured items were wasted or oversupplied (e.g., mineral water bottles in large amounts), while some necessary needs remained unmet in some remote areas (e.g., there was a need for stoves in some places, while the bulk of food items was received and occupied the limited space) (23, 39, and 19)
	Unsolicited bilateral donations (UBDs) and	“there were also lack of some necessary items such as underwear in the field…. we had spent most of our time to separate, dispatch and sort the second-hand clothes donated by donors. UBDs took us 10 days for us to do sorting only” (23) “We received a lot of expired and unnecessary items as UBDs in the field and this took us to spend a lot of time, efforts, human resource and money to manage the material convergence” (25) “…piles and bulks of second-hand clothes were burnt in disaster prone areas” (28)
	Transportation constraints	“…the roads and bridges collapsed, and there was tremendous congestion on roads connecting to major cities such as Sare-Pole-Zahab as many people came from other cities in their own vehicles” (29) “….difficulties to pass health aid to the affected population in 4 villages with limited access in mountainous road and remote zone” (3)
	Lack of security in the field and risk of looting	“There was lack of security in the field, thus our trucks with full of loading was in danger of looting” (24) “Looting and robbery happened frequently, as HAs and new emerging actors delivered and distributed the relief items with less coordination with military and government agencies” (26)
Challenges associated with last mile distribution	Lack of coordination in last-mile distribution	“Unfair distribution and parallel supply chain tasks observed” (2) “it was difficult to distribute at last mile in coordination with local state authorities and military. Some actors do not follow humanitarian principles and act like contractors” (23) “redundancies of aid items and human resources as well as storage of large amount of mineral water bottles, lead to waste while delivering large number of containers, led people not to be able to live inside them” (10)
Challenges associated with last mile distribution	Lack of integrated logistics databank	There was no unique platform to officially provide the data and information required related to response, to know who the actors were and what kind of aid was provided by which HAs, and where the most need was and what aid was distributed in the specific period of time to the particular village (12, and 28) “In Iran, we have this challenge that in a disaster, we have lack of integrated information sharing platform” (14) “We need to have an integrated and centralized warehouse management system. If in Kermanshah there is a need for tent, all tent based on that need around Kermanshah have to be supplied. However, this system is not integrated in whole country” (30)

Categories	Sub-categories	Representative quotes
Challenges associated with needs assessment	Inaccurate needs assessment	“Every single person carrying camera to video the scenes, and without real needs assessment, bulk of items delivered to the spot suddenly, while not even necessary.” (10)“With this crowd we were not able to do needs assessment and planning; large amount food items and heaters for a week, while we faced with lack of other necessary items such as sanitary kits” (12)“Inaccurate information was shared publicly, and led to lack of trust between people, government agencies and other responsible HAs” (29)
	Lack of shared data on needs	“We believed if we shared our data on needs assessment with other actors, they would be misused for their own interest. Thus, we hesitated to share data in certain circumstances. So, if we provide them such information, our warehouse for example will be empty quickly” (23)“Some needs assessment reports were not reliable, and we were not able to refer to them, thus we did not rely on them and we did assessment based on our own observation as we coordinated with three charities presented in the field to do observation” (24)
	Dynamic nature of needs	“… needs assessment is dynamic meaning that it changes over time. For example, we received the information on local needs in morning with different statistics, and then later during noon, and evening time, or tomorrow we will receive different needs assessment report” (33)“Burnt information or outdated information on needs were disseminated too much among groups and actors in the network that increased cost of our operations” (19)
Challenges associated with procurement, warehousing and transportation	Lack of pre-positioning relief items	“Prior to the disaster, local warehouses of HAs, were empty of prepositioned items in Kermanshah” (28)“We faced increased on prices in local market as black market was created, selling tents and blanket in high prices” (35)
	Lack of coordination in procurement	“… there was lack of coordination between government organizations (e.g., water and power organizations), private sector and municipality at villages, and province level to procure and install mobile public toilet and shower” (17)As the government agencies, military and NGOs operated independently with less coordination, many procured items were wasted or oversupplied (e.g., mineral water bottles in large amounts), while some necessary needs remained unmet in some remote areas (e.g., there was a need for stoves in some places, while the bulk of food items was received and occupied the limited space) (23, 39, and 19)
	Unsolicited bilateral donations (UBDs) and	“there were also lack of some necessary items such as underwear in the field…. we had spent most of our time to separate, dispatch and sort the second-hand clothes donated by donors. UBDs took us 10 days for us to do sorting only” (23)“We received a lot of expired and unnecessary items as UBDs in the field and this took us to spend a lot of time, efforts, human resource and money to manage the material convergence” (25)“…piles and bulks of second-hand clothes were burnt in disaster prone areas” (28)
	Transportation constraints	“…the roads and bridges collapsed, and there was tremendous congestion on roads connecting to major cities such as Sare-Pole-Zahab as many people came from other cities in their own vehicles” (29)“….difficulties to pass health aid to the affected population in 4 villages with limited access in mountainous road and remote zone” (3)
	Lack of security in the field and risk of looting	“There was lack of security in the field, thus our trucks with full of loading was in danger of looting” (24)“Looting and robbery happened frequently, as HAs and new emerging actors delivered and distributed the relief items with less coordination with military and government agencies” (26)
Challenges associated with last mile distribution	Lack of coordination in last-mile distribution	“Unfair distribution and parallel supply chain tasks observed” (2)“it was difficult to distribute at last mile in coordination with local state authorities and military. Some actors do not follow humanitarian principles and act like contractors” (23)“redundancies of aid items and human resources as well as storage of large amount of mineral water bottles, lead to waste while delivering large number of containers, led people not to be able to live inside them” (10)
Challenges associated with last mile distribution	Lack of integrated logistics databank	There was no unique platform to officially provide the data and information required related to response, to know who the actors were and what kind of aid was provided by which HAs, and where the most need was and what aid was distributed in the specific period of time to the particular village (12, and 28)“In Iran, we have this challenge that in a disaster, we have lack of integrated information sharing platform” (14)“We need to have an integrated and centralized warehouse management system. If in Kermanshah there is a need for tent, all tent based on that need around Kermanshah have to be supplied. However, this system is not integrated in whole country” (30)