Optimizing Large-Scale Temporary Housing Arrangements after Natural Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis often cause large-scale destruction in residential areas. In the aftermath of these disasters, emergency management agencies need to urgently develop and implement a temporary housing plan that provides displaced families with satisfactory and safe accommodations. This paper presents the computational implementation of a newly developed multiobjective optimization model to support decision-makers in emergency management agencies in optimizing large-scale temporary housing arrangements. The model is capable of simultaneously minimizing (1) postdisaster social and economic disruptions suffered by displaced families; (2) temporary housing vulnerabilities to postdisaster hazards; (3) adverse environmental impacts on host communities; and (4) public expenditures on temporary housing. The model is implemented in four main phases and it incorporates four optimization modules to enable optimizing each of the aforementioned important objectives. A large-scale temporary housing application example is presented to demonstrate the unique capabilities of the model and illustrate the performed computations in each of the implementation phases.