2017 Diploma Thesis Title:   Emergency Evacuation Planning in Natural Disasters:  Models and Solution Approaches

Abstract

The thesis presents and solves the Population Evacuation using Heterogeneous Fleet Problem (PEHFP), which concerns evacuation planning of certain pick-up locations and the transportation of the evacuees to safe shelters. To address PEHFP, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) mathematical formulation and two heuristic algorithms have been developed. Initially, the heuristic algorithms are tested on a simple scenario of the evacuation problem, in which none of the evacuees faces mobility constraints. Then, the heuristic algorithm with the minimum evacuation time is applied to the more complex scenario, in which some of the evacuees are characterized by a physical disability. The selected heuristic algorithm is applied to a case study that focuses on developing an evacuation plan to deal with a forest fire in the Province of Teruel, Spain.