When disaster strikes the swift delivery of aid often plays a massive role in preventing disease, exposure, and the pause in the delivery of essential services from exacerbating an already dire situation.
The abysmal response in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria pummeled the island in 2017 serves as a perfect example. In fact, data from a Harvard University study estimated that the delayed response in distributing aid contributed to an excess death count of 4,645 whereas the official death count by the Puerto Rican government remains at 64.