Points of distribution location and inventory management model for Post-Disaster Humanitarian Logistics

This paper develops a mathematical model to determine the location of points of distribution (PODs) and inventory allocation in Post-Disaster Humanitarian Logistics (PD-HL). The model minimizes facility placement, logistics, and deprivation costs (i.e., the cost imposed on survivors by the lack of access to critical supplies) and allows for demand nodes to be served from multiple PODs. This is significant in conditions when one POD may not have the inventory to serve all demand points that it has been assigned. This paper highlights the importance of considering the temporal component of the system and resulting social costs in facility location.