Identifying Critical Success Factors of Humanitarian Aid Logistics in Disaster Management

After recent major crises (fire, earthquake, epidemic, etc.), the importance of humanitarian aid logistics has been better understood. The success of the humanitarian aid logistics (HAL) depends on meeting the urgent needs of the victims in the shortest time and with the least amount of resources. Identifiying the factors that affecting HAL and understanding their impact is essential to the success of the process. The study aims to determine the critical success factors that affect the performance of the humanitarian aid logistics, which represents a large part of the cost of aid operations in rescue interventions and distribution of aid materials to minimize losses in disasters in Türkiye. In the methodological part, fuzzy DEMATEL was used, which explains the cause-effect relationships by determining the factors that influence each other and the degree to which they are influenced by each other. As a result of the study, it was concluded that 8 of the 16 critical success factors created with the help of the literature were included in the cause group and significantly impacted the success of the humanitarian aid logistics system in disaster management. Among these factors, it was concluded that coordination and cooperation, organizational structure and distribution of responsibilities, and clarity in reporting and sending information were highly correlated with the highest overall impact and other factors. The results obtained can be helpful for the government, charities, and related NGOs in formulating policies and strategies in logistics management.