Supply Chain Analysis Network: Dewberry Engineers, CNA, ALAN, and MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab
Partner: FEMA
Year: 2025
The Supply Chain Analysis Network (SCAN), which includes the team from the MIT HSCL, was engaged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to describe private sector supply chains that provide essential commodities for the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), as well as potential supply chain risks and likely adaptations in response to an earthquake in this region. The study area included eight states across four FEMA Regions: IV, V, VI and VII, encompassing four major cities: St. Louis, MO, Memphis, TN, Little Rock, AR, and Evansville, IN with a total population of 9.2 million.
Essential commodities studied included: food and agriculture, water, fuel (gasoline, diesel and LNG), electric power, and freight supply chain systems. The team first described each supply chain system, then analyzed the supply chain flows and finally identified policy and operational levers that could ease bottlenecks in each supply chain in the aftermath of a disruption. Throughout the project the team validated findings with supply chain stakeholders – both public and private. This included hosting an in-person round table in Memphis, TN that brought together public and private supply chain operators to discuss the “wicked problem” that a NMSZ earthquake would pose to supply chains.
For more information, please see New Madrid Seismic Zone Wicked Problems Workshop Summary Roundtable Report.