Abstract
In the post-disaster response phase, an efficient relief distribution strategy plays a vital role in alleviating suffering in disaster-stricken areas, which sometimes becomes challenging in humanitarian logistics. Most governments pre-located the relief goods at the pre-determined warehouses against possible disasters. Those goods must be shipped to the relief distribution centers (RDCs) to be further distributed to the victims in impacted areas upon the disasters. Secondary disasters can occur due to the first disaster and can occur relatively close in time and location, resulting in more suffering and making the relief distribution activities more challenging. The needs of additional RDCs must be determined as well in response to the secondary disasters. A robust optimization model is proposed to hedge against uncertainties in RDCs’ capacity and relief demand. Its objective is to minimize the sum of transportation cost, additional RDC cost, and shortage of commodities. The computational results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The sensitivity analysis gives an insight to the decision-makers.
Highlights
Humanitarian logistics has recently gained significant attention due to the increasing frequency of natural and human-made disasters, and relief distribution has played a central role
A robust optimization model is proposed for post-disaster relief distribution considering the demand and the initial relief distribution centers (RDCs)’s capacity uncertainties
The main contributions of this study are summarized as follows: (1) A robust optimization model for the relief distribution is proposed with uncertain demand at the demand points and the uncertain capacity of initial RDCs. (2) The proposed model can manage relief distribution activities and select the candidate locations for additional RDCs, given road unavailability
Summary
Humanitarian logistics has recently gained significant attention due to the increasing frequency of natural and human-made disasters, and relief distribution has played a central role. Because of the deadly nature of disasters, a well-designed disaster management system or humanitarian logistics operation is necessary to aid affected people and reconstruct the affected areas Various disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, volcanic eruptions, explosions, nuclear disasters, and contagious diseases constantly threaten human lives. A robust optimization model is proposed for post-disaster relief distribution considering the demand and the initial RDC’s capacity uncertainties. The main contributions of this study are summarized as follows: (1) A robust optimization model for the relief distribution is proposed with uncertain demand at the demand points and the uncertain capacity of initial RDCs. (2) The proposed model can manage relief distribution activities and select the candidate locations for additional RDCs, given road unavailability.
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