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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Understanding Decision Support in Large-Scale Disasters: Challenges in Humanitarian Logistics Distribution

Tina ComesMohammad Tafiqur RahmanTim A. Majchrzak

subject

Decision support system021103 operations researchHumanitarian LogisticsEmergency managementManagement sciencebusiness.industrymedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciences0211 other engineering and technologies02 engineering and technologyScheduling (computing)System requirementsRisk analysis (engineering)Service levelScale (social sciences)0502 economics and businessQuality (business)business050203 business & managementmedia_common

description

Disasters are characterized by conflicting, uncertain, or lacking data. Nevertheless, humanitarian responders need to make rapid decisions. This is particularly true for the immediate response to a sudden onset disaster. Since most humanitarian decision support systems (DSS) make important assumptions on data availability and quality that are often not fulfilled in practice, decision-makers are largely left to their experience. In this paper, we identify three major challenges for an operational DSS to support distribution planning: (i) deep uncertainty; (ii) reflecting field conditions and constraints; and (iii) rapid humanitarian logistics modeling. We review the relevant theories and provide an outline of the system requirements to develop a system for operational responders to achieve targeted service level on distribution of disaster relief through proper utilization of resources, time and scheduling.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2017-01-01
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67633-3_9