Material and volunteer convergence in developing a disaster resource portfolio

Abstract

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 5/1/2024] Disaster relief operations have been conducted by humanitarian agencies for decades, yet the problem of material and volunteer convergence still exists today. The massive influx of unsolicited donations and spontaneous volunteers following a large-scale disaster creates a convergence problem, especially when the agencies have limited capacity to handle them. Furthermore, different severity of disasters, community exposure, and resilience make effective and efficient relief operations challenging. This research aims to develop a disaster resource portfolio that considers material and volunteer convergence. Based on interviews with local, state, and federal emergency management staff and a literature review, a resource allocation model that integrates materials and volunteers is developed. The model considers the uncertainty of beneficiary demand, incoming donations, incoming volunteers, volunteer performance, and volunteer commitment. Materials are differentiated based on beneficiary needs and priorities, while the volunteers are selected based on the skill necessary to perform relief operations. Numerical experiments are conducted using both deterministic and stochastic optimization, with sensitivity analysis to gain valuable managerial insights for different uncertainty levels. Furthermore, two strategies to resolve shortages are developed. Then, a portfolio of disaster resources is developed based on FEMA's standard resource library. The portfolio has the ability to provide resource planning for any USA county for different disaster events, including hurricane, tornado, flood, ice storm, earthquake, and wildfire. The result of this research contributes to the literature in disaster management and provides tools for decision makers to plan resources for different type of disasters and communities, with an ability to reduce shortages, and integrated volunteer and material convergence issues.