A Collaborative Maximum Coverage Model Incorporating Reliability and Budget Constraints for Humanitarian Relief Chains

Abstract

Natural disasters impose significant casualties and financial losses every year. Effective and efficient planning before and during crises can help mitigate the impact. The prompt distribution of relief to affected populations is critical following a disaster. The effective location of distribution centers and the efficient allocation of affected individuals to relief centers are essential in this regard. Due to the possibility of disaster recurrence in an area, incorporating the reliability of the relief distribution centers and access roads to affected populations and maintaining backup centers to be deployed when the primary centers are unavailable play a vital role in ensuring uninterrupted relief delivery. This paper proposes a maximum coverage model to locate relief distribution centers under three key factors: (1) budget, (2) demand coverage, and (3) reliability. To analyze the impacts of changes in relief demand on the performance of the proposed model, three scenarios of low demand, medium demand, and high demand were evaluated. Two sub-scenarios were also assumed to study the impact of collaboration and non-collaboration between relief organizations. It was found that the demand coverage rate was maximized in the presence of collaboration, particularly under the high-demand scenario.