A grid-based maze approach to humanitarian logistics

MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusHumanitarian logistics is the planning and implementation of cost-effective and efficient procedures to manage the flow and storage of relief items between an origin, such as a relief or medical station, and the people affected by an event, such as a natural disaster. However, in practice numerous problems and practical difficulties may occur that will prevent the smooth operation of a humanitarian logistics chain. A problem that often occurs is accessibility – following a natural disaster, certain areas may be inaccessible, and it may be difficult or impossible to reach people trapped in these areas. In addition, there is a need to establish sufficient relief facilities in a disaster area to maintain a humanitarian relief supply chain that can provide shelter, medicine, food and other emergency items. In this study, the use of maze generation and maze-solving techniques together with discrete facility location models that can be used to assist humanitarian logistics in disaster situations is proposed. Different maze generation algorithms are used to develop a maze that represents a real-world disaster-stricken area. The maze is then solved, using different maze-solving algorithms that produce optimal traversable routes. Discrete facility location models are also formulated to determine the extent to which mathematical models can assist with the decision-making process of establishing relief facilities. To implement and demonstrate the proposed techniques and algorithms, a software application is developed that enables users to perform the computations in a fast and efficient manner. The proposed techniques and models are applied in a real-world disaster situation and data obtained from Hurricane Katrina that occurred in 2005 in New Orleans in the United States of America is used. Results obtained from the application of the models and algorithms suggest that the proposed methodology does indeed produce valuable and useful results that are typically required in a humanitarian logistics scenario.Master