Abstract:
Disasters may have devastating effects on human life as well as the economy. With its particular proneness to earthquakes, Turkey is no exception for this rule. This study aims to propose a multiechelon humanitarian supply chain network design by incorporation of demand uncertainty and roadfacility vulnerabilities, with an application to a possible earthquake scenario in the Istanbul region of Turkey. In the frame of the study, a two-stage stochastic programming model is formulated to make decisions on warehouse locations and item prepositioning in the first stage, and relief distribution in the second stage. As an extension, concurrent road repair decisions are also considered. A sample average approximation scheme is developed for the solution of the proposed model, which is executed under efficiency- and equity-based objectives. Computational experiments on a potential earthquake scenario in Istanbul assess the accuracy of the approximation approach and provide insights into managerial decisions both prior to and in the aftermath of the disaster. This study is based on joint work with Ece Aslan.
