Post-disaster debris reverse logistics management under psychological cost minimization

• A multi-objective model is developed for post-disaster debris reverse logistics.
• Logistical, risk-induced and psychological costs are minimized.
• The psychological cost is quantified as an increasing marginal function of waiting time.

This work presents a novel reverse logistics system for post-disaster debris. Effectiveness of the proposed system is demonstrated by applying it to a case study in Wenchuan County of China. The county was the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. A multi-objective linear programming model is also formulated capable of systematically minimizing total reverse logistical costs, corresponding environmental and operational risks, and psychological trauma experienced by local residents why they waited for medical treatment and removal of debris. The psychological stress induced during the debris reverse logistic process is the integral of an increasing marginal function of the waiting time for medical treatment and debris removal. Numerical results indicate that when considering risk-induced and psychological costs, the proposed model can reduce such costs associated with post-disaster debris reverse logistics by 22.62% and 54.93%, respectively, from their values when only the logistical costs are minimized. Although reducing the psychological cost of disaster victims, the temporary storage of disaster-hit sites increases the psychological costs of individuals who are processing the debris. We recommend increasing on-site storage and treatment capacities to reduce risk-induced and psychological costs with a lower increase in logistical costs. When the risk tolerance ranges from its minimum value to +25%, the Pareto fronts are closer than those of the risk tolerance increase by more than +25%. Efforts are underway to design a tool based on the Pareto analysis method for future decision making.