Humanitarian disasters are a significant feature of contemporary society. Due to the uncertainties that exist during a disaster careful planning of preparations and response is essential. A rapid response involves deploying available personnel and resources, both military and civilian, to the affected area. An efficient logistic organisation is crucial during humanitarian disasters, but also the greatest challenge. Research on humanitarian logistics should therefore include efforts of both military and civilian actors.
The purpose of this study is to describe the differences and similarities between military and civilian operations during humanitarian crises. The study highlights two distinct actors and illustrates how different systems interact in solving a common task. This provides a deeper understanding that contributes to improving logistics efficiency in humanitarian disasters.
The results of the study revealed more differences than similarities. Broadly speaking, the main difference between the operations lay in their focus and objectives. The military operation acted in the short term, while the civilian operation acted in the long term. The similarity between the operations was the challenges they faced in supply and management. This is positive as it shows that they had different purposes and contributed with different perspectives. However, the existence of two distinct processes and approaches to humanitarian logistics may create obstacles to effective cooperation and the development of a unified logistics organisation.