ABSTRACT
In the last decade, disasters have occurred with increasing frequency, magnitude, destructiveness, and cost in the United States and around the world, highlighting the need for adequate preparation to respond immediately and effectively to disasters (Brough 2002). The overall goals of disaster relief are “to reduce physical, social, and economic vulnerability and to facilitate the effective provision of short-term emergency assistance and longer-term recovery aid” (Tierney, Lindell, and Perry 2001, 256). To achieve these goals, an overwhelming number of participants is often needed during disaster relief efforts: government agencies, coordinating agencies, transportation agents, freight forwarders, health personnel, donors, media, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and volunteers. NGOs have always played an important role in disaster relief in the United States and throughout the world; however, this role seems to have grown substantially in recent years (Coppola 2007, 390; Lewis and Opoku-Mensah 2006, 668; Özerdem and Jacoby 2006). In the United States, in particular, it appears that government has come to rely on NGOs to implement many of its programs and projects, including disaster relief efforts (Salamon 2003).
