Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Widener, Michael John
Author's Email Address	mjw07g@fsu.edu
URN	etd-06252009-144605
Title	Modelling Hurricane Disaster Relief Distribution With A Hierarchical Capacitated-median Model: An Analysis With Extensions
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Geography, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Mark W. Horner Committee Chair Philip E. Steinberg Committee Member Tingting Zhao Committee Member
Keywords	Hurricanes Location Modelling Disaster Relief
Date of Defense	2009-06-22
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The need to create effective plans for distributing aid after a hurricane is of increasing importance, as recent research suggests stronger storms will be affecting more people located throughout the southeastern United States in the immediate future. There is also evidence that not all people will choose to evacuate an at risk region or seek protection at shelters. To this point there have been only a few studies exploring the use of location models in post-hurricane settings to accomplish efficient placements of facilities with goods and services for people who remain at their homes. No researchers have examined the possibility of implementing a hierarchical structure among these relief facilities. This thesis suggests a hierarchical capacitated-median model as a means for achieving hierarchy. Three variations of this model are tested and their solutions are compared to that of a non-hierarchical version of the capacitated-median model. The thesis finds that if there is limited availability of certain goods or services it could be useful to employ the use of a hierarchical capacitated-median problem to place facilities that provide different levels of assistance.
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