An optimization approach for disaster relief network design under uncertainty and disruption with sustainability considerations

Abstract

Human-made, natural, and unexpected disasters always cause human and financial losses to communities. Disaster management is a framework with proven performance to reduce the damage caused by disaster and supply chain disruptions. Transferring the injured people from affected areas to hospitals at the minimum possible time is a crucial goal in times of disaster. This paper develops a two-stage stochastic programming model to transport the injured people from affected areas to hospitals in the incidence of multiple disruptions at transportation links and facilities under uncertainties. Herein, economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainability are considered, while simultaneous disruptions are managed to minimize the adverse impacts of the disasters. We aim to determine optimal locations to establish transfer points and flows between the relief network nodes with sustainability considerations. Ultimately, a case study in District 12 of Tehran, Iran is conducted to ensure the proposed model's validity and performance. Various sensitivity analyses are also implemented to ensure the model's effectiveness. The results indicate that disruptions in facilities and transportation links lead to increased relief time, hence has the most significant negative impact on relief operations.

Robust optimization for casualty scheduling considering injury deterioration and point-edge mixed failures in early stage of post-earthquake relief

“…Gong et al ( 49 ) studied the decision optimization of patient scheduling in the early stage of post-earthquake rescue, considering the factors such as the deterioration of the injured and road disruption. Desi-Nezhad et al ( 25 ) developed a two-stage stochastic programming model to transport injured people with consideration of multiple disruptions at transportation links and facilities.…”

Casualty scheduling optimisation with facility disruptions under grey information in early stage of post-earthquake relief

“…Yan et al (2021) study the relief material distribution problem in emergency disasters considering node and path disruption simultaneously. However, these studies considering the risk of facility disruptions mainly focus on the emergency logistics network optimisation problem, and there are few works on the casualty scheduling optimisation problem; only the study of Desi-Nezhad et al (2022) made an exploration. Desi-Nezhad et al (2022) develop a two-stage stochastic programming model to transport injured people from affected areas to hospitals with consideration of disruptions at transportation links and facilities.…”

“…However, these studies considering the risk of facility disruptions mainly focus on the emergency logistics network optimisation problem, and there are few works on the casualty scheduling optimisation problem; only the study of Desi-Nezhad et al (2022) made an exploration. Desi-Nezhad et al (2022) develop a two-stage stochastic programming model to transport injured people from affected areas to hospitals with consideration of disruptions at transportation links and facilities. We also study the casualty scheduling optimisation considering facility disruptions in this paper.…”