The way in which relief is delivered often has a profound effect on a community's ability to recover from the disaster. For instance, the supply of large scale free food aid may solve the immediate food supply problem, but leave a community more vulnerable to future food crises because it disrupts normal food marketing and production systems. Rehabilitation refers to the actions taken in the aftermath of a disaster to enable basic services to resume functioning, to assist victims' self-help efforts to repair physical damage and community facilities, to revive economic activities and provide support for the psychological and social well being of the survivors. With every relief action, aid providers have to ask if the intervention will leave behind a community more able, or less able to cope with future disasters. In meeting the relief and rehabilitation needs of disaster victims, the manner in which the relief is delivered and the way the providers of relief act have a critical effect upon the success of the relief operation.
Disaster relief is part of a larger spectrum of humanitarian assistance.
Humanitarian assistance is assistance that is willingly given, without requiring reciprocal financial or political gain, for the purpose of alleviating human suffering amongst those least able to withstand the stress and suffering caused by disaster. It encompasses both the provision of basic life supporting services and rehabilitation activities as described above. It is given in the spirit of humanity and in partnership with the afflicted population in a manner which recognizes their fundamental human rights. The right to receive or offer humanitarian assistance is a basic humanitarian principle which should be enjoyed by all human beings. Hence the need for unimpeded access to disaster affected populations is of fundamental importance in providing humanitarian assistance.