Optimization and Simulation Modeling of Disaster Relief Supply Chain: A Literature Review

Recent natural and man-made disasters underscore the need of a resilient and agile disaster relief supply chain to mitigate the damages and save people’s lives. Optimization and simulation modeling have become powerful and useful tools to help decision makers tackle problems related to disaster relief supply chain. This paper reviews optimization and simulation models used in the field of disaster relief supply chain. We review the literature of the facility location optimization problems of disaster relief supply chain under different types of disastrous events. We review the literature of simulation models on supply chain design and disaster relief distribution operations. Finally, we propose two future research directions for disaster relief supply chain modeling

Optimization and Simulation Modeling of Disaster Relief Supply Chain: A Literature Review

Recent natural and man-made disasters underscore the need of a resilient and agile disaster relief supply chain to mitigate the damages and save people’s lives. Optimization and simulation modeling have become powerful and useful tools to help decision makers tackle problems related to disaster relief supply chain. This paper reviews optimization and simulation models used in the field of disaster relief supply chain. We review the literature of the facility location optimization problems of disaster relief supply chain under different types of disastrous events. We review the literature of simulation models on supply chain design and disaster relief distribution operations. Finally, we propose two future research directions for disaster relief supply chain modeling

A Tutorial on Geographic Information Systems: A Ten-year Update

This tutorial provides a foundation on geographic information systems (GIS) as they relate to and are part of the IS body of knowledge. The tutorial serves as a ten-year update on an earlier CAIS tutorial (Pick, 2004). During the decade, GIS has expanded with wider and deeper range of applications in government and industry, widespread consumer use, and an emerging importance in business schools and for IS. In this paper, we provide background information on the key ideas and concepts of GIS, spatial analysis, and latest trends and on the status and opportunities for incorporating GIS, spatial analysis, and locational decision making into IS research and in teaching in business and IS curricula

On the Value of Accurate Demand Information in Public-Private Emergency Collaborations

In cases where the private sector struggles to cope with the impact of a disaster, authorities try to reduce the burden on the population and set up supply chains to distribute essential goods. Therefore, they estimate demand and location of the affected people and open points of distribution to supply goods from, e.g. public buildings or sports facilities. However, the location of these points of distribution depends heavily on accurate demand estimations. Combined with a high time pressure that prevents the collection of detailed data, inefficient decisions result. However, these decisions improve significantly if private actors share their market knowledge. Since this information is strictly confidential for companies and at the same time requires a lot of coordination effort from public actors to acquire, the quantification of the benefits of the collaboration is important for both sides. Moreover, the time at which the information is received and the way the information is utilized regarding different intervention intensities is supposed to be crucial. Therefore, we develop a framework to quantify the consequences of shared information for both actors and apply it to a case study for a tap water contamination in the city of Berlin. We highlight that both actors benefit from the collaboration and that the time the information is received has a comparably low effect on the total supply. Moreover, we show that private actors can reduce the impact of market interventions on their processes significantly by actively collaborating with authorities

Mathematical Models in Humanitarian Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Literature Review

In the past decade the humanitarian supply chain (HSC) has attracted the attention of researchers due to the increasing frequency of disasters. The uncertainty in time, location, and severity of disaster during predisaster phase and poor conditions of available infrastructure during postdisaster phase make HSC operations difficult to handle. In order to overcome the difficulties during these phases, we need to assure that HSC operations are designed in an efficient manner to minimize human and economic losses. In the recent times, several mathematical optimization techniques and algorithms have been developed to increase the efficiency of HSC operations. These techniques and algorithms developed for the field of HSC motivate the need of a systematic literature review. Owing to the importance of mathematical modelling techniques, this paper presents the review of the mathematical contributions made in the last decade in the field of HSC. A systematic literature review methodology is used for this paper due to its transparent procedure. There are two objectives of this study: the first one is to conduct an up-to-date survey of mathematical models developed in HSC area and the second one is to highlight the potential research areas which require attention of the researchers

Intégration tactique-opérationnelle d'une planification hiérarchique avec fonction d'anticipation : étude de cas dans le secteur forestier au Québec

Le processus de planification dans le secteur forestier est complexe et des divergences apparaissent entre les solutions des modèles de différents niveaux de planification. Afin de diminuer ces divergences, plusieurs méthodes ont été développées : approches monolithiques, approches hiérarchiques, approches d’intégration de plusieurs niveaux de planification, etc. Une méthode d’intégration tactique-opérationnelle dans le secteur forestier est présentée dans cette recherche. Deux modèles mathématiques existants ont été pris comme base pour realizer cette intégration d’une approche hiérarchique : un modèle d’allocation des ressources et un modèle de localisation des chantiers de coupe. L’intégration a été réalisée avec une function d’anticipation. La méthode suivie est celle de Schneeweiss. Cette méthode permet d’aider les gestionnaires du niveau supérieur à prendre des décisions afin qu’elles soient réalisables au niveau inférieur. Une étude de cas a été réalisée sur le processus de planification des ressources forestières au Québec. Les résultats obtenus sont encourageants pour l’utilisation de la méthode propose dans un cas réel afin d’aider les gestionnaires à la prise de décisions

Determination of shelter locations and evacuation routes for a possible earthquake in the city of Istanbul

Ankara : The Department of Industrial Engineeringand the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2012.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2012.Includes bibliographical refences.In this study, the location of disaster response and relief facilities in Istanbul is investigated in view of a possible earthquake. Our objective is to determine and analyze the assignments of demand nodes to shelter nodes. We propose two mathematical models for this purpose. Model 1 is a path based model, in which the possible paths are determined by preprocessing the network data to assign demands to shelters while obeying path capacities. Model 2 is an arc based model that uses the network data directly and creates the paths as a byproduct of the solution. Both of the models ensure that each demand node is served by at least a shelter node in accordance with road and shelter capacities. We examine the effect of the shelter capacity, the number of shelters, and the road capacities on the results in different cases. In these cases, we find out that the shelter capacity, number of shelters, and road capacities influence the shelters to be opened, the assignment of the demand nodes to these shelters and the used arcs/paths in this assignment.Kırıkçı, CeydaM.S

OPTIMIZATION MODELS AND METHODOLOGIES TO SUPPORT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND POST-DISASTER RESPONSE

This dissertation addresses three important optimization problems arising during the phases of pre-disaster emergency preparedness and post-disaster response in time-dependent, stochastic and dynamic environments. The first problem studied is the building evacuation problem with shared information (BEPSI), which seeks a set of evacuation routes and the assignment of evacuees to these routes with the minimum total evacuation time. The BEPSI incorporates the constraints of shared information in providing on-line instructions to evacuees and ensures that evacuees departing from an intermediate or source location at a mutual point in time receive common instructions. A mixed-integer linear program is formulated for the BEPSI and an exact technique based on Benders decomposition is proposed for its solution. Numerical experiments conducted on a mid-sized real-world example demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The second problem addressed is the network resilience problem (NRP), involving an indicator of network resilience proposed to quantify the ability of a network to recover from randomly arising disruptions resulting from a disaster event. A stochastic, mixed integer program is proposed for quantifying network resilience and identifying the optimal post-event course of action to take. A solution technique based on concepts of Benders decomposition, column generation and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed. Experiments were conducted to illustrate the resilience concept and procedure for its measurement, and to assess the role of network topology in its magnitude. The last problem addressed is the urban search and rescue team deployment problem (USAR-TDP). The USAR-TDP seeks an optimal deployment of USAR teams to disaster sites, including the order of site visits, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the expected number of saved lives over the search and rescue period. A multistage stochastic program is proposed to capture problem uncertainty and dynamics. The solution technique involves the solution of a sequence of interrelated two-stage stochastic programs with recourse. A column generation-based technique is proposed for the solution of each problem instance arising as the start of each decision epoch over a time horizon. Numerical experiments conducted on an example of the 2010 Haiti earthquake are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

A Decision support system for shelter site selection with GIS intergration : case for Turkey

Ankara : The Department of Industrial Engineeringand the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2012.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2012.Includes bibliographical refences.In this study, a methodology for locating shelter sites after a disaster is developed. Currently, in Turkey, Turkish Red Crescent is responsible for selecting the location of shelter areas. First, they identify the candidate shelter site locations. Then, they rank those locations by using a weighted average function composed of eleven criteria and whenever there is an emergency, they utilize the locations with the highest ranking until there is enough space to house the affected population. To improve Turkish Red Crescent’s methodology, a mathematical model that selects the best possible combination of shelter sites from a set of candidate locations, controls the utilization of those sites and assigns every district to its closest shelter site is developed. The mathematical model is implemented with a decision support system. The decision support system, which is developed in C#, is an ArcGIS extension that uses Gurobi optimization software. With the decision support system, the user is able to solve the problem, obtain an initial solution, edit the solution and view the solution on the map that is generated by ArcGIS. To test the model with a greater data set, a sample data based on the Asian side of Istanbul is used.Kılcı, FıratM.S