In 1984 and 1985, Chad was affected by a large scale drought. In order to ensure rapid decision making for the allocation of food and because of the practical problems encountered when using the classical nutritional survey methods, a Nutritional Score System (N.S.S) was developed. This method was based on the use of social, economic and nutritional indicators and allowed comparison of nutritional status between communities. This paper discusses how the N.S.S. was developed and applied, and how it compared with the classical survey methods.