Transportation network reliability in emergency response

•A disaster-based transportation network reliability model is presented.•Two methods are discussed for finding a suitable level-of-service.•A heuristic algorithm is presented for the large scale network improvement problem.•Retrofitting links is most efficient when sufficient relief supplies are present.

Distribution of humanitarian supplies is vital in saving lives during disasters. Investment in retrofitting critical transportation links reduces casualties as intact links improve flow of relief supplies. In finding critical links, link importance values are derived using the concept of network reliability. A network improvement problem is then solved to minimize death toll. To increase practicality, a heuristic algorithm is proposed to solve real size problems. Results show that initial incremental investments in network improvement are more profound in reducing the death toll than higher budget increments. Moreover, higher relief inventories reduce the death toll when the network is reliable.