Mathematical Modeling in Disaster Logistics: Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem

Disasters are unforeseen situations that cause serious material losses and damages in addition to the dead and injured when they occur. Since disasters cannot be predicted in advance, it is of great importance to determine the work to be done in case of a disaster. The most important aspect of such studies is the development and examination of post-disaster search and rescue activities and treatment facilities. One of the most important issues to be considered while performing these operations is to reach the disaster victims in minimum time and to plan disaster logistics in the most efficient manner possible. In this study, the problem of planning debris scanning activities with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles after an earthquake and transporting the injured people to the hospitals by ambulances in minimum time was discussed and mathematical models were developed to solve the problem. The ambulance routing problem and the mathematical model to be used in the solution of the problem are discussed for the first time in the literature. The developed model was tested on the problem sets created by taking into account the data of the province under investigation. Analysis results showed that the developed model can reach optimal solutions in small and medium-sized problems, and as the size of the problem increases, it does not reach the optimal solution in a short time, but it can produce appropriate solutions.