Humanitarian Relief Operation: A Case of Bereched

This case study explores a humanitarian relief operation in Bereched, discussing the organization's strategic intent, numeric database, interpretation of the database, approximate number of people rescued per day, and more.

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HUMANITARIAN RELIEF OPERATION; A CASE OF BERECHED
Name of Institution:
Name of Student:
Date:

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1. Background
Every human being has a right to life. This is a constitutional provision in almost all countries
across the globe. In fact, the death of any human irrespective of the age comes with a lot of
mourning and sorrow among close friends and relatives. As such, it is the preserve of every
government to protect the lives of all its citizens at all times.
Due to the value attached to human life, different entities including but not limited to
governments, non-governmental organizations, civic groups, and even volunteer individuals
frequently embark on humanitarian relief operations to save the lives of people trapped in areas
affected by disasters such as floods and earthquakes. For instance, the Red Cross and Geneva
Convention were formed as a response to the war in Italy in 1859 as the country fought for its
freedom (Brooks, 2009). The war, popularly known as the Solferino 1859 led to massive loss of
lives resulting in the formation of the institutions mentioned above. There has been a progressive
increase in the humanitarian relief operations carries out across the word beginning that time.
The manner in which these operations should be conducted to ensure human rights and freedoms
are respected was stated clearly discussed as is captured in (Biller-Andorno, 2014).
In the spirit of protecting the lives of the citizens from its member states, the United Nations set
up a department to respond to disasters across the member states and offer relief services to those
affected. The organization has since then moved to offer numerous services across a number of
countries (UNITED NATIONS, n.d.) with major interest groups being the refugees, the hungry,
children and the sick. When selecting the organization to assign a certain operation, special
considerations must be given to a range of factors within the said organization (Balcik & Deniz
Ak, 2013). This is basically to measure whether or not the selected organization is capable to
efficiently and effectively deliver on the assignment. The principles within which any

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humanitarian relief operation should be conducted are concussively discussed in (Brown
University, Department of Emergency Medicine, USA, 2016).
The International Rescue organization are therefore needed to operate within the universally
accepted principles during their assignment in Berechid. This informs their decision to allocate
various machines listed in the numeric database below. This assignment sees to give a systematic
and intellectual framework within which the operations should be conducted. Key aspects of the
operation including the amount of food needed, number of trips to be made per day and shortest
time possible to conduct the operation are captured and we calculated.
The information provided in the case study is not adequate, therefore the Fermi problems
approach is highly utilized.
2. The Organization’s strategic intent
The International Rescue has a core objective of saving lives for those in areas struck by
disasters. This objective can only be achieved if such exercises are done within the shortest time
possible. Saving lives on its own goes beyond just evacuations. The organization, therefore,
extends its core objectives to providing primary needs like food and water to the victims being
evacuated.
3. Numeric Database as per International Rescue
The table below shows a summary of the items and machines allocated by International Rescue
in order to have a successful operation. The food and water amounts required to feed one victim
per day are also part of the table.
Item Quantity

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Victims 16,000
Hours 72
Pouncer Drones 2000
Canned vegetables 500 grams per person
Proteins 150 grams per person
C 130 Transport aircrafts 5
AS532 helicopters 100
Water 7.5 per person
4. Interpretation the Database above
Preparation is a fundamental aspect of a rescue mission. As such, it is critical for any
organization involved in humanitarian operations to have a plan way before the mission itself.
International Rescue also had structures in order to have a successful operation. The organization
needed to evacuate 16,000 victims within a period of 72 hours. Some of the pieces of machinery
include 2000 pouncer drones and C130 aircraft to supply food, and 100 AS532 helicopters to
rescue people. The stock of water and food have also been allocated for the mission.
5. Approximate number of people rescued per day
The objective of any rescue mission is only achieved when the task is completed within the
shortest time possible. This is the main parameter used to gauge the success of an operation.
Alongside time, every operation should be executed within the confines of the principles of
humanitarian aid operations as stipulated by the United Nations. When these are adhered to,
then high chances are that the maximum number of lives would be saved from danger. The

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success of this operation depends on how many people can be evacuated per day. Since there
are critic pieces of information missing from the case study provided, a number of
assumptions would be made when doing the relevant calculations. The first assumptions
would be that the landing field in Berechid could accommodate six helicopters at ago. The
efficiency of the helicopters is assumed to be at 75%, implying that the speed would be
(0.75*249) = 186.75km/hr.
The time taken for the helicopter to fly from the headquarters to Berechid is given by
35 km
186.75 km/hr =0.187 hrs=0.187∗60 minutes=11.24 minutes. The instructions given are that
another helicopter can only and five minutes after the previous one has taken off and that it takes
11 minutes to load a helicopter with 20 casualties. The total time is taken to complete the chain
equals 2*11.24+11 = 33.48 minutes. In consideration of all the instructions given in the case
study, it can be comfortably concluded that the period between the first and the next
helicopter/feet of helicopters would then be 11.24 minuteds+11 minutes = 22.24 minutes. Total
minutes in a day equasm24 hours*60 minutes = 1400 minutes.
Therefore the number of trips made in a day by each helicopter would be given by
1,440 minutes
22.24 minutes =64.75 trips ≈ 64 trips. The longest part of the chain is flying from the
headquarters to Berechid which takes 11.24 minutes.
The other assumption made is that six helicopters would be leaving the headquarters for the
mission at once. The maximum capacity for each helicopter is 20 people per trip, therefore a total
of 20 people * 6 =120 people would be rescued per trip. But there would be 64 trips per day,
therefore the number of people rescued per day would be 64 * 120 people = 7,680 people,

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representing 7,680
16,000∗100 %=48 %. By the second day, a total of 16,000-7,680 = 8,320 people
would still be awaiting rescue. 7,680 (48%) casualties would have been rescued on day two,
leaving behind ( 16,000−2∗7,680 people )=¿640 people which is equivalent to
( 100− ( 2∗48 )=4 % ). The table below is a summary of all the information explained above.
Table 1
Day Trips Helicopters
per trip
Capacity
per
helicopter
Total
number
evacuated
Percentage of
recued per
Day
Casualties
remaining on
disaster site
1 64 6 20 7680 48% 8320
2 64 6 20 7680 48% 640
3 5 6 20 640 4% 0
6. Visual representation of the rescue process
11.2.4 minutes to Berechid Food + water

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35 km
7. The maximum quantities of food and water supplied to Berechid over the rescue period
To avoid wastage of resources, particularly food and water during the rescue process, it was
critical to estimate the number of people rescued per day. Each casualty needs both food and
water every single day. All casualties would require food on the first day. Therefore the amount
of water supplied on the first day would be 16,000 * 7.5 liters = 120,000 liters. For food, the
amount would be 16, 000 * (150 grams + 500 grams) = 10,400,000 grams = 10, 400 kilograms.
For the consecutive days, only the population yet to be rescued would be supplied with food and
water. It would make no economic sense to supply food and water for say 16,000 when there are
only 6,000 people remaining on site.
Having said that, the amount of water supplied on the second day would be
( 52 %∗120,000 )=62,400 liters. The amount of food to be supplied on the same day would be
( 52 %∗10,400 kg=5,408 kilograms ). T
For the third day, the amount of water and food supplied to Berechid would (0.04*120,000)
= 4,800 liters and (0.04*10, 400kg = 416 Kilograms respectively. The table provided below
summarizes these calculations.
Table 2
Day Casualties
Amount of water in liters
+
6 Helicopters to Berechid
Trapped
Victims
Marrakesh
Safe population
2 hours 7 minutes

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Proteins and vegetables in kilograms
1 16,000 120,000 10,400
2 8,320 62,400 5,408
3 640 4,800 416
8. Final evacuation, water and food amounts required
The assumption to be made would be that the company ferrying the rescued victims to
Marrakesh would use a fleet of ninety buses with a capacity of 72 passengers each. This basically
means that in one trip, 6,480 people would be ferried. The total time taken by the buses to travel
from the headquarters to Marrakesh and back to pick a new lot is 2 hours 37minutes. With that
said, a bus would be able to make at least 1,440
( ( 2∗60 ) +37) =4 trips per day. By the third day, all the
casualties would have arrived at the headquarters, therefore, a total of 16,000 casualties would
need to be transported to Marrakesh by bus and fed as well. Approximately two trips would be
needed to ferry all the casualties.
Consequently, the amount of water needed would be ( 7.5 liters∗16,000 ) =120,000 liters and the
amount of food would be
( 16,000∗650 grams=10 , 400,000 grams )=10,400 kilograms of proteins∧canned food.
9. Most food and water transportation means

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The C130 aircraft have been described to be very fast, beautified, and sophisticated a (Times,
2018). It also has a very high capacity and therefore can carry a large quantity of luggage and
deliver it to its destination within a very short period.
On the other hand, the drone has a capacity of 2000 pounds of food (Spring Wise, 2016). They
are unmanned and is very accurate. From its origin, it can land on the specific selected area thus
avoiding infrastructure problems (Windhorse Aerospace, 2016). The structure is made in such a
way that it is very strong and flexible. It has empty wings and body to allow for as much
foodstuff to be stocked by the drone when headed to a rescue mission (Spring Wise, 2016).
Clearly, the features listed for these two high tech machines makes them very capable to ensure
the foodstuff and water needed for this mission are delivered within the time frames provided. It
is therefore recommended that International Rescue should use both machines to ensure
efficiency and timely delivery.
10. Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident from the calculations given above that International Rescue was able
to evacuate all the earthquake casualties within the time stipulated by the French government.
Based on this fact, the organization generally had a successful operation exercise. This is in
accordance with its mission and vision which focuses on timely evacuation of people from
disaster-stricken areas and at the same time provide such people with the basic needs like food
when doing the rescues.

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References
Balcik, B. & Deniz Ak, 2013. Supplier Selection for Framework Agreements in Humanitarian
Relief. Wiley Online Library, 23(6).
Biller-Andorno, C. C. a. N., 2014. Challenging Operations: An Ethical Framework to Assist
Humanitarian Aid Workers in their Decision-making Processes. Issue doi:
10.1371/currents.dis.96bec99f13800a8059bb5b5a82028bbf.
Brooks, R., 2009. Solferino 1859: The battle for Italy’s Freedom. illustrated ed. s.l.:Bloomsbury
USA, 2009.
Brown University, Department of Emergency Medicine, USA, 2016. History and Principles of
Humanitarian Action, Issue doi: 10.5505/1304.7361.2015.52207.
Spring Wise, 2016. No waste, edible emergency drone carries more food. [Online]
Available at: https://www.springwise.com/no-waste-edible-emergency-aid-drone-carries-
food/
[Accessed 1 May 2019].
Times, M., 2018. The C-130 Hercules is the perfect airlifter. Military Culture, 24th February.
UNITED NATIONS, n.d. Deliver Humanitarian Aid. [Online]
Available at: https://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/deliver-humanitarian-aid/
[Accessed 27 April 2019].
Windhorse Aerospace, 2016. POUNCER™. [Online]
Available at: https://www.windhorse.aero/

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[Accessed 1 May 2019].