Facility location in humanitarian relief

TLDR

The study develops a model to determine the number, locations, and inventory levels of distribution centres in a humanitarian relief chain for quick‑onset disasters. The model is a variant of the maximal‑covering location framework that jointly optimizes facility placement, inventory levels for multiple item types, and budget and capacity constraints, and is tested via computational experiments on a realistic problem. Results demonstrate that pre‑ and post‑disaster funding levels significantly influence response time and the proportion of demand satisfied, highlighting managerial implications for relief planning.

Abstract

In this study, we consider facility location decisions for a humanitarian relief chain responding to quick-onset disasters. In particular, we develop a model that determines the number and locations of distribution centres in a relief network and the amount of relief supplies to be stocked at each distribution centre to meet the needs of people affected by the disasters. Our model, which is a variant of the maximal covering location model, integrates facility location and inventory decisions, considers multiple item types, and captures budgetary constraints and capacity restrictions. We conduct computational experiments to illustrate how the proposed model works on a realistic problem. Results show the effects of pre- and post-disaster relief funding on relief system's performance, specifically on response time and the proportion of demand satisfied. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of the proposed model.