Global Optimization of Emergency Evacuation Assignments

Abstract

Conventional emergency evacuation plans often assign evacuees to fixed routes or destinations based mainly on geographic proximity. Such approaches can be inefficient if the roads are congested, blocked, or otherwise dangerous because of the emergency. By not constraining evacuees to prespecified destinations, a one-destination evacuation approach provides flexibility in the optimization process. We present a framework for the simultaneous optimization of evacuation-traffic distribution and assignment. Based on the one-destination evacuation concept, we can obtain the optimal destination and route assignment by solving a one-destination traffic-assignment problem on a modified network representation. In a county-wide, large-scale evacuation case study, the one-destination model yields substantial improvement over the conventional approach, with the overall evacuation time reduced by more than 60 percent. More importantly, emergency planners can easily implement this framework by instructing evacuees to go to destinations that the one-destination optimization process selects.

The role of demand models in evacuation

“…In other words, instead of assigning the demand to pre-fixed destinations, evacuees are directed to the nearest safe destination outside of the impacted area. Chiu et al [39] and Han et al [40] propose the One-Destination evacuation model in which the traditional road network with m origins to n destinations has been modified to a network with m origin to one destination. Chiu et al [39] applied a system optimal dynamic traffic Cell Transmission Model to a simple evacuation event to solve the evacuation destination-route-flow-staging problem.…”

A scenario planning approach for disasters on Swiss road network

“…16,17,18,19,20, and 21. In particular, Cova et al [22] propose a lane-based model which minimizes the total travel distance considering forbidding intersections crossing conflicts.…”

A modified particle swarm optimization for disaster relief logistics under uncertain environment

“…However, there are considerably several studies that address different aspects of disaster relief logistics. These include location (e.g., Drezner et al [5] on casualty collection points; Doerner et al [6] on shelter/temporary housing location and/or allocation; Akkihal [7], Jia et al [8], and Balcik and Beamon [9] on location of RDCs; and Berman et al [10,11] on transfer point location), location-allocation (see for instance, Sherali et al [12], Tzeng et al [13]), inventory aspects (e.g., Beamon and Kotleba [14]; Whybark [15]; Lodree and Taskin [16]), relief distribution (e.g., Haghani and Oh [17]; Viswanath and Peeta [18]; Ozdamar et al [19]; Barbarosoglu and Arda [20]; Amiri [21]; Yi and Kumar [22]; Sheu [23]; Campbell et al [24] and Yuan and Wang [25]), evacuation process planning (see, for instance, Han et al [26]; Yi and Kumar [22]; Yi and Ozdamar [27]; Ozdamar and Yi [28]; Regnier [29]; Chiou and Lai [30]; Stepanov and Smith [31] and Saadatseresht et al [32]); and location routing (see, for instance, Yi and Ozdamar [27]; Ukkusuri and Yushimito [33]). …”