Fuzzy Location and Routing Models for Emergency Logistics Distribution in Disaster Relief Operations

摘要

Emergency logistics management has emerged as a worldwide-noticeable theme as disasters, either artificial or natural, may occur anytime around the world with enormous consequences. A hybrid fuzzy clustering-optimization approach was presented to solve the large-scale disaster relief distribution problem with the main goal of minimizing the total number of fatalities. The proposed method mainly contains a three-phase operational routine. Here fuzzy clustering techniques are used in the first phase to classify the damaged areas based on respective relief demand attributes and priority, followed by the second and the third phase, where fuzzy linear programming is employed to deal with the facility location and vehicle routing problems. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method was demonstrated by a numerical example. The results show that the proposed method is feasible for emergency logistics distribution in disaster relief operations via appropriate disaster resource management and routing strategies.