An emergency logistics response system for natural disasters

Natural disasters are a threat to human lives and the world economy, and recent experiences have proven that the current emergency management systems have significant deficiencies. The objective of this research is to develop an Emergency Response Model (ERM) that can be used by offices of emergency preparedness to evaluate response capabilities, to assess the logistics challenges in the event of natural disaster and to perform what-if analysis on the threat of a weather disturbance system. The first step to develop the ERM is to define the mechanisms and coordination that must be in place among the different emergency management agencies in the event of a natural disaster. Then, the logistics (activities and time frame) that have to be implemented are defined. Finally, a simulation model is built and used to evaluate the effectiveness of current emergency preparedness systems as compared with the proposed system.