A Multi-Objective Decision-Making Model for Resources Allocation in Humanitarian Relief

This thesis addresses the critical resource allocation in the initial days of a disaster relief operation. One of the most important and essential components of relief operations is the allocation of scarce resources to accomplish the relief efforts. Every operation for disaster relief needs various critical resources including (but not limited to) personnel, equipment, supplies, or simply finances. Several research efforts for disaster relief have suggested methods to allocate scarce resources across a variety of competing objectives and programs in a disaster relief operation. Many of those efforts focused on optimizing a mathematical programming model subject to budget constraints. However, capturing the values of the decision-maker(s) in such a model is relatively unexplored. The lack of clear organizational values contributes to the inconsistency in practice and hinders effective resource allocation across the disaster relief system. The purpose of this study is to develop a multi-objective decision-making (MODM) model to incorporate the decision-maker(s) value trade-offs in the disaster relief resources allocation problem. The notional model is based on a hurricane and flood scenario, and the decision window for the resource allocation is the critical first 72 hours after the initial damage assessment has been made. The value focused thinking (VFT) process is used to capture the value trade-offs, and the resulting value hierarchy is optimized via a mathematical programming model to solve the multi-objective resource allocation problem.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.