Facility location optimization model for emergency humanitarian logistics

Since the 1950s, the number of natural and man-made disasters has increased exponentially and the facility location problem has become the preferred approach for dealing with emergency humanitarian logistical problems. To deal with this challenge, an exact algorithm and a heuristic algorithm have been combined as the main approach to solving this problem. Owing to the importance that an exact algorithm holds with regard to enhancing emergency humanitarian logistical facility location problems, this paper aims to conduct a survey on the facility location problems that are related to emergency humanitarian logistics based on both data modeling types and problem types and to examine the pre- and post-disaster situations with respect to facility location, such as the location of distribution centers, warehouses, shelters, debris removal sites and medical centers. The survey will examine the four main problems highlighted in the literature review: deterministic facility location problems, dynamic facility location problems, stochastic facility location problems, and robust facility location problems. For each problem, facility location type, data modeling type, disaster type, decisions, objectives, constraints, and solution methods will be evaluated and real-world applications and case studies will then be presented. Finally, research gaps will be identified and be addressed in further research studies to develop more effective disaster relief operations

Location-allocation models for relief distribution and victim evacuation after a sudden-onset natural disaster

Quick response to natural disasters is vital to reduce loss of and negative impact to human life. The response is more crucial in the presence of sudden-onset, difficult-to-predict natural disasters, especially in the early period of those events. On-site actions are part of such response, some of which are determination of temporary shelters and/ or temporary medical facility locations, the evacuation process of victims and relief distribution to victims. These activities of last-mile disaster logistics are important as they are directly associated with sufferers, the main focus of any alleviation of losses caused by any disaster. This research deals with the last-mile site positioning of relief supplies and medical facilities in response to a sudden-onset, difficult-to-predict disaster event, both dynamically and in a more coordinative way during a particular planning time horizon. Four mathematical models which reflect the situation in Padang Pariaman District after the West Sumatera earthquake were built and tested. The models are all concerned with making decisions in a rolling time horizon manner, but differ in coordinating the operations and in utilization of information about future resource availability. Model I is a basic model representing the current practice with relief distribution and victim evacuation performed separately and decisions made only considering the resources available at the time. Model II considers coordination between the two operations and conducts them with the same means of transport. Model III takes into account future information keeping the two operations separate. Model IV combines the features of Models II and III. The four models are approached both directly and by using various heuristics. The research shows that conducting relief distribution and victim evacuation activities by using shared vehicles and/or by taking into account future information on resource availability improves the current practice . This is clearly demonstrated by the experimental results on small problems. For large problems, experiments show that it is not practical to directly solve the models, especially the last three, and that the solution quality is poor when the solution process is limited to a reasonable time. Experiments also show that the heuristics help improve the solution quality and that the performances of the heuristics are different for different models. When each model is solved using its own best heuristic, the conclusions from results of large problems get very close to those from small problems. Finally, deviation of future information on resource availability is considered in the study, but is shown not to affect the performance of model III and model IV in carrying out relief distribution and victim evacuation. This indicates that it is always worthwhile to take into account the future information, even if the information is not perfect, as long as it is reasonably reliable

Robust Platelet Logistics Planning in Disaster Relief Operations Under Uncertainty: a Coordinated Approach

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Resource sharing, as a coordination mechanism, can mitigate disruptions in supply and changes in demand. It is particularly crucial for platelets because they have a short lifespan and need to be transferred and allocated within a limited time to prevent waste or shortages. Thus, a coordinated model comprised of a mixed vertical-horizontal structure, for the logistics of platelets, is proposed for disaster relief operations in the response phase. The aim of this research is to reduce the wastage and shortage of platelets due to their critical role in wound healing. We present a bi-objective location-allocation robust possibilistic programming model for designing a two-layer coordinated organization strategy for multi-type blood-derived platelets under demand uncertainty. Computational results, derived using a heuristic ε-constraint algorithm, are reported and discussed to show the applicability of the proposed model. The experimental results indicate that surpluses and shortages in platelets remarkably declined following instigation of a coordinated disaster relief operation

Relief distribution networks : a systematic review

In the last 20 years, Emergency Management has received increasing attention from the scientific community. Meanwhile, the study of relief distribution networks has become one of the most popular topics within the Emergency Management field. In fact, the number and variety of contributions devoted to the design or the management of relief distribution networks has exploded in the recent years, motivating the need for a structured and systematic analysis of the works on this specific topic. To this end, this paper presents a systematic review of contributions on relief distribution networks in response to disasters. Through a systematic and scientific methodology, it gathers and consolidates the published research works in a transparent and objective way. It pursues three goals. First, to conduct an up-to-date survey of the research in relief distribution networks focusing on the logistics aspects of the problem, which despite the number of previous reviews has been overlooked in the past. Second, to highlight the trends and the most promising challenges in the modeling and resolution approaches and, finally, to identify future research perspectives that need to be explored

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

ОПТИМАЛЬНАЯ МАРШРУТИЗАЦИЯ ВОЗДУШНЫХ СУДОВ И МАШИН СКОРОЙ ПОМОЩИ В ЛОГИСТИКЕ ПРИ СТИХИЙНЫХ БЕДСТВИЯХ

One of the most vital aspects of emergency management studies is the development and examination of post-disaster search and rescue activities and treatment facilities. One of such issues to be considered while performing these operations is to reach the disaster victims within minimum time and to plan disaster logistics in the most efficient manner possible. In this study, the problem of planning debris scanning activities with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles after an earthquake and transporting the injured people to the hospitals by ambulances within minimum time was discussed, and mathematical models were developed to solve the problem. The ambulance routing problem and the mathematical model to be used in the solution to the problem are discussed for the first time in the literature. The developed model was tested on the problem sets created by taking into account the data of the province under investigation.Одним из наиболее важных аспектов исследований по управлению рисками и чрезвычайными ситуациями является разработка и изучение поисково-спасательных мероприятий и очистных сооружений после стихийных бедствий. Одним из вопросов, которые необходимо учитывать при выполнении этих операций, является обеспечение доступа к жертвам стихийных бедствий в минимальные сроки и планирование логистики в случае стихийных бедствий наиболее эффективным способом. В данном исследовании рассматривается проблема планирования работ по спасению с помощью беспилотных летательных аппаратов после землетрясения и транспортировки пострадавших людей в больницы на машинах скорой помощи за минимальное время. Для решения этой проблемы были разработаны и предложены математические модели. Впервые рассматривается задача маршрутизации скорой помощи и математическая модель, которая будет использоваться для решения этой задачи. Разработанная модель была протестирована на множествах задач, созданных с учетом реальных данных исследуемой провинции Турции

Multi-objective Optimization for Equitable Post-Disaster Relief Supply Distribution

Humanitarian logistics in the post-disaster phase of an earthquake requires detailed planning about the relief distribution network including assigning available distribution centers (DCs) to the affected areas, distribution of the relief commodities demanded by the affected population, and efficient allocation of the available vehicle fleet for the distribution in a short span of time. As the demand for relief commodities changes dynamically, the allocation of relief commodities requires a multi-period emergency plan to fully utilize the emergency resources efficiently. Furthermore, as a disaster occurs suddenly without any warning, relief supplies are insufficient in the initial phase of the disaster. At such times, the decision makers face difficulties distributing the available supplies equitably across all the affected areas without putting any particular community at risk. This study focuses on two different dimensions: efficiency and equity by minimizing the total unmet demand as well as minimizing the total travel time to satisfy demand at different nodes across different time periods while requiring that the percentage of satisfied demand at each node is within a specified deviation range from the average demand satisfaction rate for all nodes. To address this problem, a deterministic multi-objective mathematical programming formulation is developed to model the design of a disaster relief distribution network with the primary objective of minimizing the total unmet demand across all demand nodes and the secondary objective of minimizing the total transportation time. The model is solved using the lexicographic method for a problem instance of a Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake in the state of Oregon. Four scenarios are evaluated for two different earthquake magnitudes with different levels of damage to candidate DCs. Pareto optimal frontiers are obtained to determine the trade-off between the unmet demand and the total travel time for these scenarios. The model results show that an equitable distribution of relief commodities is possible at a relatively high demand satisfaction rate when supplies are still limited but the number of vehicles for two different modes of transportation is large. Moreover, shortages in vehicles significantly increase the unmet demand across different demand nodes. Overall, this research provides useful insights about the characteristics of the relief distribution network and provides a method for trade-off analysis that decision-makers can use to improve the efficiency of humanitarian logistics in a post-disaster setting

Humanitarian Logistics: A New Field of Research and Action

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/0200000014Recent natural disasters such as the earthquake in Hati, Hurricane Katrina in the United States, tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the earthquake in Pakistan, and numerous humanitarian challenges arising from such conflicts as that in Sudan have exposed the shortcomings in planning for disasters. In addition to the natural disasters, the homeland security issues related to domestic as well as international terrorism have increased the fear factor and have made 'readiness' the principal priority. Humanitarian logistics is a critical element of an effective disaster relief process. The objective of this monograph is to discuss research issues and potential actions surrounding the new field of humanitarian logistics. We define humanitarian logistics as that special branch of logistics which manages response supply chain of critical supplies and services with challenges such as demand surges, uncertain supplies, critical time windows in face of infrastructure vulnerabilities and vast scope and size of operations. We survey case studies to learn from the past experience and review analytical models from the literature to understand the state-of-the-art in humanitarian logistics. We recommend further research in the fields of operations management and operations research to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian logistics. We conclude that through humanitarian logistics is inherently chaotic and complex, and it is difficult to do research in this area, the complexity and obstacles can be dealt with by the researchers