A spreadsheet-based decision support tool for temporary-disaster-response facilities allocation

Abstract

In this study, we present a spreadsheet-based decision support tool for allocating temporary-disaster-response facilities for relief supplies distribution. The tool developed in this study mainly consists of three main components as its database, decision engine and user interface. We develop the tool to run on a spreadsheet environment rather than producing a standalone application by aiming at providing more convenience for the user to perform tasks such as data manipulation and reporting. The paper also presents an example case for illustration. The tool allows the user (i.e., decision makers) to allocate temporary-disaster-response facilities under many different after-disaster situations (scenarios) considering the possible uncertainties to occur after a disaster (i.e., different affected population rates, planning periods etc.). Although we present some example cases in the paper for illustration purposes, the flexibility of the tool allows its users to consider other cases with many other scenarios. The tool can be used to help decision makers for allocating temporary-disaster-response facilities for planning relief supplies distribution operations.