A multi-objective rolling horizon personnel routing and scheduling approach for natural disasters

The magnitude of the workload associated with the provision of emergency response services in the aftermath of natural disasters, coupled with limited availability of personnel for providing these services, leads to demand-supply imbalances with detrimental effects on the provision of the required services. In this context, personnel routing and scheduling decisions aim to meet the demand as fast as possible while at the same time they ensure fair provision of services among the impacted areas. Due to their excessive working hours, and their travel over unreliable transportation networks, personnel are prone to burnout effects and are exposed to risks derived from the unreliable condition of the disaster impacted transportation networks. To address these issues, we propose a novel Disaster Response Personnel Routing and Scheduling (DRPRS) model with efficiency, fairness and risk objectives, subject to working and resting related constraints. The proposed model can be applied to routing and scheduling decisions for different types of emergency response services, and takes into account the precedence relations among them. We solve the resulting multi-objective model lexicographically over a rolling horizon sequentially on a daily basis until the demand for all types of services considered is satisfied. We report results from the application of the proposed model for routing and scheduling personnel involved in the provision of evacuation and medical services in the context of 2018 Lombok Earthquake, Indonesia.

Automated summary

The workload of emergency response services after natural disasters is huge, but there is limited availability of personnel, resulting in imbalances in supply and demand and detrimental effects on the provision of services. To address this issue, we propose a novel Disaster Response Personnel Routing and Scheduling (DRPRS) model that aims to meet demand efficiently and fairly, while considering constraints related to working and resting.