Logistical Planning Problems in Disaster Relief: Simultaneous Operational Planning for RoadClearance Operations and Relief Distribution

在自然灾害（如地震或海啸）发生后的最初几天和几周内，最紧迫的任务是尽快将救灾物资和搜救队运送到受灾地区，以减轻灾民的痛苦。在救灾的第一阶段，快速和有效的救灾分发经常受到道路堵塞的阻碍。由于倒下的树木、山体滑坡或碎片，部分道路网络无法通行，因此受影响的村庄与外界完全隔绝，或者车辆不得不绕路将救援物资运送到这些地方。从方法论的观点来看，出现了两个规划问题。另一方面，救援物资必须尽快用运载能力有限的车队运送。另一方面，要安排不同能力、不同装备的清理队伍协同作业，疏通堵塞的道路，使装载救灾物资的车辆能够及时通行。这两个规划问题是相互依存的，因为一方面，道路清理作业的顺序和持续时间影响救济品分发的速度。另一方面，救济分配内需求节点的访问顺序和到达时间对道路清理作业的调度有影响。因此，必须以综合办法同时处理这两个规划问题，以便协调道路清理工作和救济分发工作，使灾害受害者得到平等的照顾。到目前为止，科学文献中只有少数几篇文章讨论了这个联合计划问题。这个问题的各个有关方面尚未得到考虑。因此，力求发展数学模型和求解算法，以便同时规划道路清理作业和救济分配，是这个拟进行的项目的目的。

In the first days and weeks after a natural disaster struck (e.g. earthquake or tsunami), the most urgent task is to transport relief goods as well as search and rescue teams as fast as possible to the affected regions in order to alleviate the suffering of the disaster victims. In this first phase of disaster relief a fast and efficient relief distribution is regularly hampered by blocked roads. Because of fallen trees, landslides or debris parts of the road network are impassable, so that affected villages are completely cut off or vehicles have to make time-consuming detours to transport relief goods to these places.From a methodological point of view, two planning problems arise. On the hand relief goods have to be delivered as fast as possible with a fleet of capacity constrained vehicles. On the other hand the cooperative operation of clearance crews with different abilities and equipment has to be scheduled in order to clear blocked roads, so that these roads are passable for vehicles loaded with relief goods in a timely manner. Both planning problems are interdependent, as on the one side order and duration of the road clearance operations influence the speed of the relief distribution. On the other side visiting order and arrival times at the demand nodes within relief distribution have an effect on the scheduling of the road clearance operations. Thus, both planning problems have to be tackled simultaneously in an integrated approach, so that road clearance operations and relief distribution are coordinated in order to achieve an equal coverage of the disaster victims. Up to now only a few articles in the scientific literature have tackled this combined planning problem. Diverse relevant aspects of the problem have not yet been considered. Therefore, pursuing the development of mathematical models and solution algorithms for simultaneous planning of road clearance operations and relief distribution is the aim of this intended project.