RAPID: Field Investigation on Post-Disaster Humanitarian Logistic Practices under Cascading Disasters and a Persistent Threat: The Tohoku Earthquake Disasters

目标：东北灾难是灾难史上几乎没有类似的事件。四个具体特征使其成为一场非常独特的灾难：触发和级联灾难的严重性和普遍性，地理覆盖范围以及核威胁的长期持续性。由于这些因素，这场灾害及其应对措施为今后的救济行动提供了有益的重要经验教训。在这种情况下，该项目的主要目标是：（1）研究影响东北地区的连锁灾害对人道主义后勤反应的影响;（2）研究灾后人道主义后勤系统如何应对灾害;（3）研究持续的核威胁如何影响整个灾后人道主义后勤工作;（4）确定在应对中出现的各种PD-HL结构的初步拓扑结构和特征;（5）深入了解其有效性水平、积极和消极特征、提供的人力、覆盖范围和行动范围;（5）收集关于关键/非关键供应品流动及其随时间变化的动态模式的数据;（6）收集关于先前存在的情况对灾后救济能力的影响的数据;（7）记录所吸取的经验教训，包括正面和负面的经验教训。即将进行的研究对于新兴的PD-HL和灾害研究领域非常重要，因为它将为实际/新兴的PD-HL实践提供急需的基于证据的见解，以及可能有利于未来救援行动的积极和消极教训。在这种情况下，重要的是要强调的是，PD-HL响应的现实并没有很好地理解了整个灾害研究界。这是因为：（1）灾害发生率相对较低;（2）专业和研究PD-HL社区的规模极小;（3）数据的短暂性。该项目将首次系统性地描述PD-HL过程，该过程是在具有持续核威胁的级联灾害之后出现的。通过这种表征所产生的结果将：（1）加强对灾害环境中组织和组织的理论理解;（2）为这些方法的高级建模奠定基础。该研究将：（1）促进人道主义后勤研究方面的多学科合作;（2）将学生纳入多学科和国际研究进程，特别强调代表性不足的学生;（3）产生将纳入灾害和后勤课程的研究结果;（4）产生具有实际效益的调查结果，广泛传播给从事人道主义后勤工作的组织，包括日本的利益相关者。

Objectives: The Tohoku disaster(s) is an event almost without parallels in disaster history. Four specific features make it a very unique disaster: severity and pervasiveness of the trigger and cascading disasters, geographic coverage, and persistence over time of the nuclear threat. As a result of these factors the disaster and its response offer important lessons of benefit to future relief operations. In this context, the main objectives of the project are: (1) to study the impacts on the humanitarian logistic response produced by the cascading disasters that impacted Tohoku; (2) to study how the post-disaster humanitarian logistic (PD-HL) system responded to the disasters; (3) to study how the persistent nuclear threat impacted the overall PD-HL effort; (4) to identify a preliminary topology and features of the various PD-HL structures that emerged in the response; (5) to gather insight into their level of effectiveness, positive and negative characteristics, manpower provided, coverage and extent of their operations; (5) to gather data about the flows of critical / non-critical supplies, and their dynamic patterns over time; (6) to gather data about the impact of preexisting conditions on post-disaster relief capacity; and, (7) to document lessons learned, both positive and negative.Intellectual merit and broader impacts: The research to be conducted is important to the nascent field of PD-HL and disaster research because it will provide much needed evidence-based insight into actual/emerging PD-HL practices, and lessons both positive and negative that could benefit future relief operations. In this context, it is important to highlight that the realities of PD-HL response are not well understood by the disaster research community at large. This is because of: (1) the relatively low occurrence of disasters; (2) the extremely small size of the professional and research PD-HL communities; and (3) the ephemeral nature of the data. The project will provide the first systemic characterization of the PD-HL process that emerged after cascading disasters with a persistent nuclear threat. The findings produced by such characterization would: (1) enhance theoretical understandings of organizations and organizing in disaster environments; and (2) set the stage for advanced modeling of these approaches. The research will: (1) promote multidisciplinary collaboration on humanitarian logistics research; (2) integrate students to a multidisciplinary and international research process, with a particular emphasis on underrepresented students; (3) generate findings that will be integrated into disaster and logistics courses; (4) generate findings with applied benefits that will be broadly disseminated to organizations engaged in humanitarian logistics, including stakeholders in Japan.