Characterizing And Planning For Key Logistic Obstacles In Food Banks Operations After Hurricane Events
Date
2020-05
Authors
Marthak, Yash V.
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Abstract
<p>Food banks are non-profit, charitable organizations that distribute food and
products to people in need. Food bank facilities receive donations from public and private agencies and distribute them with the help of city organizations, agencies, and volunteers.
Natural disasters, such as hurricane Harvey, have exposed the complexities and
challenges associated with those tasks. Food bank facilities become disaster relief centers
for affected communities after natural disasters. These facilities typically experience an increase in product demand and an increase in the volume of donations after the impact of a natural disaster. Disaster response involves the planning, coordination, and
distribution of supplies in an effective manner to the affected population. The goal of this
research is to analyze and forecast the amount of donations received by food bank
facilities impacted by natural disasters. A stochastic programming model is also
presented which considers prepositioning strategies among food bank facilities located in high risks areas for hurricanes.</p>
<p>The first part of this thesis analyzes the donations received by two food bank
facilities affected by hurricane Harvey in 2017. An extensive numerical study is
performed that compares the donation behavior at each facility before and after the
hurricane event. Multiple forecasting models are evaluated to determine their accuracy in
predicting the observed behavior. The results deduced from this part can be used to
develop policies that can help in planning for future events. Predictions for total food
donations provided least mean absolute percentage error for the analysis. Predictions using econometric model too provided least error for Houston Food Bank for disaster
relief period.</p>
<p>The second part of this thesis proposes a stochastic model that considers the
uncertainty associated with the impact of the hurricane at each facility in terms of the
number of available supplies, donations received at the facility, and the expected demand
for their service region. The first-stage decisions attempt to minimize the number of
people not receiving the needed supplies by prepositioning the existing supplies at each
facility. Second-stage decisions maximize the system responsiveness by trying to satisfy
the observed demand for the scenarios under consideration such that unmet demand is
minimized. The experiments consider scenarios in which one or two food bank facilities
are shut down after the disaster and study the impact of prepositioning supplies. Analysis
revealed unmet demand observed for the experiments conducted. The implementation of
this model can have a global outreach by minimizing the damage due to any natural
disaster by making key food allocation decisions and having an ideal response strategy.</p>
Description
Keywords
Natural disasters, Food banks, Donations, Forecasting, Time series models, Stochastic Programming, Pre-positioning,
Citation
Marthak, Y. V. (2020). <i>Characterizing and planning for key logistic obstacles in food banks operations after hurricane events</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.