A dynamic emergency planning system for relocating vulnerable people to safe shelters in response to heat waves

Abstract

A significant proportion of the world's population is ageing. As a result, numerous authorities and governments are formulating strategies to improve their citizens' services. Nevertheless, climate change and natural hazards have revealed the need for additional emergency plans tailored to the needs of the elderly. While recent studies have focused on certain types of disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, heat waves have not received as adequate attention in disaster response research. Using a model of emergency response developed in this study, we propose a dynamic optimization method to facilitate the rapid relocation of vulnerable people to designated shelters in order to minimize their exposure to heat waves. The proposed model views the problem as a dynamic evacuation planning in which requests for assistance from the emergency centre are received after the collection of people from their homes has begun. Subsequently, using some efficient optimisation methods, the strategy gets updated on a regular basis. The proposed model is evaluated using a case study that takes into account a randomly generated set of locations and relocation request in a local government area in Sydney, Australia. Results indicate that the proposed method is capable of generating acceptable response plans for relocating elderly individuals in the shortest possible time during actual emergencies induced by heat waves. In terms of emergency preparation, administration, and policy, this study's findings have implications for countries with urban areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects.