Redistribution of humanitarian items in disaster management multi-period location–allocation problem under type-2 neutrosophic environment

Abstract

Disasters cause significant damage to both human life and property, as well as the necessary resources required for survival, within a short period of time. The sudden disturbance to society caused by a disaster often leaves many people homeless. With the increased frequency of disasters, researchers have become increasingly concerned with proposing suitable models to handle these situations. Only a suitable humanitarian logistic operation can rescue those affected by disasters by providing life-saving items. To this end, this assay introduces a multi-period, multi-objective facility location redistribution model that is considered under some uncertain environmental conditions. The primary objectives of this study are to minimize total transportation costs and required time while maximizing the satisfaction of demand for new relief camps. The concept of redistribution is employed to facilitate rapid responses in emergency situations and reduce logistics waste. Some parameters in the model are handled using type-2 neutrosophic numbers, which are subsequently converted into crisp values through a ranking function. Subsequently, an improved neutrosophic TOPSIS approach is developed based on neutrosophic programming and fuzzy TOPSIS to obtain non-dominated solution. Three numerical examples are provided to illustrate the problem briefly. Following this, a comparative study is conducted between the proposed approach and two existing techniques: neutrosophic programming and fuzzy TOPSIS. Additionally, a stability analysis is incorporated to assess the resilience of the designed model. In conclusion, the paper offers significant insights and highlights areas for future research in this field.