Resilient emergency response: A multi-criteria decision analysis framework.

摘要

Recent natural and man-made disasters underscore the importance for cities to be prepared and respond efficiently to emergencies. These are complex tasks that involve solving multiple problems. For example, the management of vaccines inventory, the placement of emergency stations and training of staff. Additionally, each of the aforementioned problems may have competing objectives. As an example of competing objectives consider the minimization of the number of staff members at emergency stations while maximizing vaccines delivered. However, few cities (if any) are currently prepared to deliver vaccines efficiently and rapidly to the population at risk during a pandemic, geological or other catastrophic health event. In order to help save lives and resources, the proposed developmental research presents a unified framework for emergency response. Thus, emergency planers have the potential to asses the interdependence between different problems and optimize conflicting objectives presented in each problem. Four interrelated research thrusts are used to highlight the application of the framework: facility location; staff allocation; supply chain and data visualization. Moreover, applying the findings of this research should promote confidence of citizens in emergency officials due to the resilience of the response.