A logistics model for the transport of disaster victims with various injuries and survival probabilities

We propose an optimization model for patient delivery and medical resource allocation with capacity restrictions. Our model considers the severity of the victims’ injuries in the initial search and rescue period and their survival probabilities, which decrease proportionally with the elapsed time. We develop a mixed integer programming model to select the location and network flow of an on-site clinic for supporting first-aid treatment near disaster areas. We also build a model of a general hospital as an objective function to maximize the number of patients whose survival probability exceeds the marginal level. Our model also considers patients waiting at the on-site clinic and hospital. We apply our optimization approach in a case study with data from a department store collapse in South Korea. Our computational results will facilitate future studies of logistics to support wounded victims of disasters.