A Method for Evacuation Route Planning in Disaster Situations

In this paper, the design and analysis of evacuation routes in transportation networks in cases of natural disasters is examined. A method for evacuation route planning in disaster situations is suggested. This method applies iteratively a heuristic algorithm to define two independent paths from the disaster area to each shelter for vehicle flow allocation in evacuation planning, considering both travelling time and capacity of the transportation network as parameter for analysis. Routes to different shelters cannot present intersection points either in order to allow continuous traffic flow and reduce potential accidents. An evacuation planning exercise is also presented.