Stochastic last mile relief network design with resource reallocation

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1589818 (Table of Contents)

We study a last mile distribution network design problem for situations where there exist local distribution centers (LDCs) with pre-positioned supplies. Given the information on the existing pre-disaster relief network, the problem determines the locations and capacities of LDCs and points of distribution in the relief network, while capturing the uncertain aspects of the post-disaster environment. We introduce new accessibility metrics, and develop two alternate two-stage stochastic optimization models that would allow more accessible and equitable distribution of relief supplies. Since solving the proposed optimization models is computationally challenging, we employ decomposition-based branch-and-cut algorithms. We perform numerical analysis based on the real-world data from the 2011 Van earthquake in Turkey to provide insights about the proposed models, and also conduct a computational study that demonstrates the effectiveness of the solution method.