Solution methodologies for debris removal in disaster response

During the disaster response phase of the emergency relief, the aim is to reduce loss of human life by reaching disaster affected areas with relief items as soon as possible. Debris caused by the disaster blocks the roads and prevents emergency aid teams to access the disaster affected regions. Deciding which roads to clean to transport relief items is crucial to diminish the negative impact of a disaster on human health. Despite the significance of the problem during response phase, in the literature debris removal is mostly studied in the recovery or the reconstruction phases of a disaster. The aim of this study is providing solution methodologies for debris removal problem in the response phase in which effective and fast relief routing is of utmost importance. In particular, debris removal activities on certain blocked arcs have to be scheduled to reach a set of critical nodes such as schools and hospitals. To this end, two mathematical models are developed with different objectives. The first model aims to minimize the total time spent to reach all the critical nodes whereas the second minimizes the weighted sum of visiting times where weights indicate the priorities of critical nodes. Since obtaining solutions quickly is important in the early post-disaster, heuristic algorithms are also proposed. Two data sets belonging to Kartal and Bakırköy districts of İstanbul are used to test the mathematical models and heuristics. © 2016, EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies

Solution methodologies for debris : removal during disaster response phase

Ankara : The Department of Industrial Engineering and the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2014.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2014.Includes bibliographical references leaves 79-85.During the disaster response phase of the emergency relief, the aim is to reduce loss of human life by reaching disaster affected areas with relief items as soon as possible. Debris caused by the disaster blocks the roads and prevents emergency aid teams to access the disaster affected regions. Deciding which roads to clean in order to transport relief items is crucial to diminish the negative impact of a disaster on human health. Despite the significance of the problem during response, in the literature debris removal is mostly studied in recovery or reconstruction phases of a disaster. The aim of this study is providing solution methodologies for debris removal problem in response phase. In particular, debris removal activities on certain blocked arcs have to be scheduled in order to reach a set of critical nodes such as schools and hospitals. Two mathematical models are developed with different objectives. The first model aims to minimize the total time spent to reach all critical nodes whereas the second minimizes weighted sum of visiting times where weights indicate the priorities of critical nodes. Since obtaining solutions quickly is important in the early post-disaster, heuristic algorithms are also proposed. Two data sets belonging to Kartal and Bakırk¨oy districts of ˙Istanbul are used to test the mathematical models and heuristics.Berktaş, NihalM.S

Debris removal during disaster response: A case for Turkey

Debris occurs from the ruin and wreckage of structures during a disaster. Proper removal of debris is of great importance because it blocks roads and prohibits emergency aid teams from accessing disaster affected regions. Poor disaster management, lack of efficiency and delays in debris removal cause disruptions in providing shelter, nutrition, healthcare and communication services to disaster victims, and more importantly, result in loss of lives. Due to the importance of systematic and efficient debris removal from the perspectives of improving disaster victims quality of life and allowing the transportation of emergency relief materials, the focus of this study is on providing emergency relief supplies to disaster affected regions as soon as possible by unblocking roads through removing the accumulated debris. We develop a mathematical model for the problem that requires long CPU times for large instances. Since it is crucial to act quickly in an emergency case, we also propose a heuristic methodology that solves instances with an average gap of 1% and optimum ratio of 80.83%

Debris removal during disaster response phase : a case for Turkey

Ankara : The Department of Industrial Engineering and the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2013.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2013.Includes bibliographical references leaves 88-93.In this study, a methodology to provide emergency relief supplies to the disaster affected regions is developed. As a result of destructive effects of disasters, debris, which is the ruin and wreckage of the structures, occurs. Proper removal of debris has significant importance since it blocks the roads and prohibits emergency aid teams to access the disaster affected regions. Wrong disaster management, lack of efficiency and delays in debris removal cause disruptions in providing sheltering, nutrition, healthcare and communication services to the disaster victims, and more importantly they result in loss of lives. Due to the importance of a systematic and efficient way of debris removal from the point of improving disaster victims’ life quality and its contributions to transportation of emergency relief materials to the disaster affected regions, the focus of this study is providing emergency relief supplies to the disaster affected regions as soon as possible, by considering unblocking operations of roads through removing the accumulated debris. To come up with a scientific solution methodology to the problem, mathematical models that select the paths in order to transport emergency aid materials in the presence of debris to the pre-determined disaster affected regions are developed. The performances of the models are tested on two distinct data sets from İstanbul. Since it is crucial to act quickly in an emergency case, a constructive and an improvement heuristic are also proposed.Şahin, HalenurM.S

Optimization approaches for standard repairs in a concrete element

After extreme events, structural elements can result damaged and repairs are needed to restore safe functionality of structure. This thesis investigates the design approaches for typical repairs in concrete elements. A methodology for automatic design and cost estimation of common elements will be developed, which is useful for decision taking in performance-based design

Chapter Introduction to the Use of Robotic Tools for Search and Rescue

Modern search and rescue workers are equipped with a powerful toolkit to address natural and man-made disasters. This introductory chapter explains how a new tool can be added to this toolkit: robots. The use of robotic assets in search and rescue operations is explained and an overview is given of the worldwide efforts to incorporate robotic tools in search and rescue operations. Furthermore, the European Union ICARUS project on this subject is introduced. The ICARUS project proposes to equip first responders with a comprehensive and integrated set of unmanned search and rescue tools, to increase the situational awareness of human crisis managers, such that more work can be done in a shorter amount of time. The ICARUS tools consist of assistive unmanned air, ground, and sea vehicles, equipped with victim-detection sensors. The unmanned vehicles collaborate as a coordinated team, communicating via ad hoc cognitive radio networking. To ensure optimal human-robot collaboration, these tools are seamlessly integrated into the command and control equipment of the human crisis managers and a set of training and support tools is provided to them to learn to use the ICARUS system

Introduction to the Use of Robotic Tools for Search and Rescue

Modern search and rescue workers are equipped with a powerful toolkit to address natural and man-made disasters. This introductory chapter explains how a new tool can be added to this toolkit: robots. The use of robotic assets in search and rescue operations is explained and an overview is given of the worldwide efforts to incorporate robotic tools in search and rescue operations. Furthermore, the European Union ICARUS project on this subject is introduced. The ICARUS project proposes to equip first responders with a comprehensive and integrated set of unmanned search and rescue tools, to increase the situational awareness of human crisis managers, such that more work can be done in a shorter amount of time. The ICARUS tools consist of assistive unmanned air, ground, and sea vehicles, equipped with victim-detection sensors. The unmanned vehicles collaborate as a coordinated team, communicating via ad hoc cognitive radio networking. To ensure optimal human-robot collaboration, these tools are seamlessly integrated into the command and control equipment of the human crisis managers and a set of training and support tools is provided to them to learn to use the ICARUS system

Location and Routing Problems of Debris Collection Operation after Disasters with Realistic Case Study

AbstractDebris removal after disasters presents challenges unique to each disaster. The transportation routing as well as disposal sites issue will be the subject of this study. The uniqueness of debris collection operation is due to the limited access from one section to the other, as a result of the blocked access by debris. Therefore a new constraint i.e. access possibility constraint was added to the classical L-CARP. Case studies on a test network and on realistic instances based on estimates of debris due to likely large scale natural disaster in Tokyo Metropolitan Area have also been reported under various scenarios

Construcción de planes de restauración de vías orientados a facilitar operaciones de logística humanitaria

Disruptions in the transportation network are one of the hardest consequences of a disaster. They have the potential of hampering the performance of emergency aid organizations, reducing the opportunities of saving critical victims during response and recovery phases. The strategic restoration of road network implies the prioritization of those a ected roads whose rehabilitation would reduce travel times, allowing emergency relief vehicles, civilians and restoration machines to move faster through the network. Humanitarian Road Restoration Problem (HURREP) is a relatively new topic in comparison with other research topics on disaster management. In this study, we present a mathematical model which schedules and routes restoration machines and relief vehicles working in parallel on the same network. We adopt the minimization of weighted sum of attention times to communities as the objective function, seeking for a restoration plan totally dedicated to provide support to relief plan. Among other features, our methods are able to deal with di erent relief modes working in parallel, road disruptions that are naturally removed over time (e.g. by evaporation) and vehicle-dependent starting times. We also provided an heuristic algorithm able to solve large size instances of our problem in less than the 2.7% of the runtime limit suggested by the Administrative Department for Prevention, Attention, and Recovery from Disasters in Antioquia, Colombia (DAPARD). We validated the applicability of our methods on real world disaster scenarios through a study case based on the Mojana's oods occurred in northern Colombia on the 2010-2011.MaestríaMagister en Ingeniería Industria