Distributional Robustness and Inequity Mitigation in Disaster Preparedness of Humanitarian Operations

Hongming Li (), Erick Delage (), Ning Zhu (), Michael Pinedo () and Shoufeng Ma ()
Additional contact information
Hongming Li: College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Army Military Transportation University, Tianjin 300161, China
Erick Delage: GERAD and Department of Decision Sciences, HEC Montréal, Montreal, Québec H3T2A7, Canada
Ning Zhu: College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Michael Pinedo: Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012
Shoufeng Ma: College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2024, vol. 26, issue 1, 197-214

Abstract: Problem definition : In this paper, we study a predisaster relief network design problem with uncertain demands. The aim is to determine the prepositioning and reallocation of relief supplies. Motivated by the call of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to leave no one behind, we consider three important practical aspects of humanitarian operations: shortages, equity, and uncertainty. Methodology/results : We first employ a form of robust satisficing measure, which we call the shortage severity measure , to evaluate the severity of the shortage caused by uncertain demand in a context with limited distribution information. Because shortages often raise concerns about equity, we then formulate a mixed-integer lexicographic optimization problem with nonconvex objectives and design a new branch-and-bound algorithm to identify the exact solution. We also propose two approaches for identifying optimal postdisaster adaptable resource reallocation: an exact approach and a conservative approximation that is more computationally efficient. Our case study considers the 2010 Yushu earthquake, which occurred in northwestern China, and demonstrates the value of our methodology in mitigating geographical inequities and reducing shortages. Managerial implications : In our case study, we show that (i) incorporating equity in both predisaster deployment and postdisaster reallocation can produce substantially more equitable shortage prevention strategies while sacrificing only a reasonable amount of total shortage; (ii) increasing donations/budgets may not necessarily alleviate the shortage suffered by the most vulnerable individuals if equity is not fully considered; and (iii) exploiting disaster magnitude information when quantifying uncertainty can help alleviate geographical inequities caused by uncertain relief demands.

Keywords: disaster preparedness; shortage; equity; distributionally robust optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.1230 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:26:y:2024:i:1:p:197-214

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().