Coordinating disaster relief -- what are the best practices?

The tragedy in Haiti brings to light again the difficulty of coordinating relief in a place that has been crippled by a natural disaster. The completely unpredictable nature of these disasters means that relief planning begins amid chaos. I have always wondered if collecting stories of rescue operations, short term and long term, efficient or otherwise, from various parts of the world that have experienced similar tragedies would help in future cases. Perhaps there is already a repository of such knowledge?