A clustering-based approach for emergency medical supplies transportation in large-scale disasters

Prompt medical services and supplies to affected areas can minimize the life-loss caused by the disasters. We develop a clustering-based vehicle routing model for medical supplies transportation in large-scale disasters. Firstly, a clustering-based method is applied to select temporary emergency distribution centers according to the geographical distribution of affected areas, and then a clustering-based vehicle routing model is built to generate the delivery routes from emergency distribution centers to their covered affected areas. Lastly, we give a numerical example to show the effectiveness and advantage of the developed approach, showing that the clustering-based method can in faster time produce delivery routes with shorter total transportation times. ? 2014 ISSN 1881-803X.