Photo Credit: @michaelheld

How to Trust Blockchain When Disaster Strikes.

Hanis Jazil
Aug 31, 2018 · 4 min read

Heavy is the cost when disaster strikes on a regular day at the office. Workers arrive only to be greeted unexpectedly by crumbling buildings, terrified screams that follow a destructive trail of vital infrastructure supplying everything from high-tech components to spare parts.

From earthquakes to tsunamis and hurricanes; thousands of lives are lost and millions of people are left without water, electricity and gas. Production suspends and supply chain efficiency deteriorates.

An army of first-responders taking off to disaster-stricken zones are halted by decision makers reviewing budget constraints, access to accurate information and the lack of transparency within a dizzying supply chain economy.

In times of crisis, the search for the right suppliers for life-saving medical supplies, food, water and fuel at cost-efficient prices, placed on urgent demand are the first of many problems when it boils down to the complexities of logistics.

After all, being embroiled in an illness outbreak spawned from contaminated products during disaster relief missions are catastrophic risks to be avoided by supply chains.

Unblocking Supply Chain Visibility.

With global shipping reliant on legacy systems to track the movement of supplies that exchange multiple hands, cross borders, undergo inspection and clear customs in accordance to regulation; these expensive and time-consuming processes present myriad opportunities for profiteering vendors preying on unsuspecting firms by falsifying records related to the production and shipment of requisitions.

For example, shipments can essentially disappear sometimes for weeks or months on end, some left stranded in container terminals — one of the biggest blind spots in supply chain visibility because tracking systems in the consumer world are generally less effective given the nature of multi-modal supply chain routes, human error or foul play during natural disasters.

Consider the following scenarios.

Scenario One: A coordinated disaster relief mission takes place. A drone is flown into a critical zone to establish a 3G network that allows first-responders to use a mobile application that communicates directly with supply chain networks. The first responder assesses the situation on-ground and places an order for medical supplies, food, water and fuel in less than a minute.

Scenario Two: The operator from the supply chain network checks the existing stock and informs the helicopter pilot of the request made earlier. Unfortunately, the carrier is only able to fulfil half of the request. But that’s okay, the operator schedules for the remainder of the stock to be delivered the next day.

Scenario Three: A relief worker places an order for medical supplies from a manufacturing company. The shipment arrives but the relief worker realises that the invoice does not tally with the exact number of supplies that have arrived. Now, the relief worker scrolls through the various points of where the supplies have gone through, from first mile to last, and notices that the remainder of the supplies are held up at a customs, scheduled to arrive in two days time.

So how does blockchain technology, bestowed with its universal, chronological and immutable powers of recording transactions and events assist supply chains in its speedy recovery from natural disasters?

It certainly will not reverse the natural passage of time because existing solutions have already been implemented, especially when end-to-end supply chain visibility systems are set in place and planned well for crisis management.

As such, supply chain operators are required to take a strategic step forward in understanding true demand, monitoring supply, increasing flexibility, optimising inventory and preparing for an upswing with transparency and traceability.

The Freedom to Trust Anyone.

Blockchain, the new kid on the block was once dismissed as a starry-eyed pitch, an idealistic endeavour to innervate an impending rebellion against a centralised fiat system with cryptocurrencies. Naysayers refer to this new technology, as rat poison, favouring anachronistic solutions to problems which require immediate attention.

Despite the backlash that blockchain receives from established financial organisations to comedians who jest about technobabble, disaster relief could use more benefit from total collaboration, a direct and common communication channel with smarter transactions.

Blockchain technology entitles a massive chain of national agencies, non-governmental organisations and volunteer groups to equal power in making full use of their own resource planning system with the introduction of smart contracts — think instant transactions on resources, complete with a team of lawyers onboard.

With a smart contract; a simple, open algorithm embedded in the blockchain creates a level playing field for rescue parties to instantly view requests and react with a specific offer — think tinder for humanitarians, granting the freedom to access information on demand, while mitigating a natural disaster without the complications of excessive financial review.

This approach will eliminate incentives to behave capitalistically and provide transparency across network transactions at blistering speed when human lives are at stake, all while providing involved parties the ability to access transaction histories in real-time and without delay.

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