Abstract

Multi-Objective, Multi-Criteria Approach to Improve Situational Awareness in Emergency Evacuations
Track: Education and Training
Authors: Chris Oxendine, Mukul Sonwalkar, Nigel Waters

In emergencies, the primary goal of first responders is to minimize loss of life, especially in densely populated neighborhoods where evacuation time is critical. The present portability of cell phones, ease of information storage and dissemination, and mass adoption of cellular technology has enabled effective implementation of cell phones by emergency service personnel and citizens. The paper introduces a multi-objective, multi-criteria approach to determining optimum evacuation routes in an urban setting to assist first responders using linear programming and weights-of-evidence methodologies. The first objective is to calculate evacuation routes for individuals using their cell-phone location that minimizes the time necessary for a sample population to evacuate to designated safe zones. The second objective is to maximize coverage of individual cell phone locations within the evacuation zone. This network-based methodology analyzes geographic features to determine optimum evacuation routes for adult populations based on their cell-phone location.