In response to the Great East JapanEarthquake (GEJE) disaster, relief goods were distributedand delivered through prefectural- and municipal-leveldepots. This delivery system faced several problemsincluding fuel shortages, interruption of telecommunicationservices, and supply and demand mismatches, resulting instockpiling of the goods in depots and delayed delivery tothe people in need. Several measures can be taken to addressthese issues, including prior surveys of depot facilities,estimating in advance the quantities of emergency goods thatwill be required, enlisting the support of professionallogistics specialists, and promoting logistics informationmanagement in unaffected areas, among others. Delivery ofrelief goods was planned to be executed through depots attwo levels-prefectural and municipal. Especially in thefirst two weeks, fuel shortages made downstream deliveriesfrom prefectural depots very difficult. Also, manpowershortages and the inconvenient building specifications ofdepots were the main causes of unnecessary stockpiling indepots. Delivering several kinds of goods, such as food,drinking water, clothing, and bedding, either topeople's homes or to more than 2,000 shelters, was achallenge, especially in the first several weeks when fuelwas in short supply. By the end of June, 1,800, 1,400, and2,400 trucks were dedicated to transporting goods fromprefectural depots to municipal depots in Iwate, Miyagi, andFukushima, respectively.
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