An efficient network for disaster management: Model and solution

• Proposing a relief network based on two kinds of relief services.
• Integrating two different issues including hub covering location problem and covering problem.
• Finding a tight lower bound by utilizing Lagrangian relaxation on the proposed model.

The design of relief logistics networks is one of the most important activities for disaster preparedness. In emergency conditions, relief operations can be performed for a node if it is inside of the relief radius; thus, the proposed model contains a covering location problem. Simultaneously, the relief transportation network is designed based on the hub location problem. Moreover, the Lagrangian relaxation method was proposed to find a proper lower bound of the problem for large instances. Some numerical examples were analyzed to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The computational results confirmed that the proposed model showed appropriate performance for disaster management compared to classic network designs.