Optimization approaches for macroscopic emergency evacuation planning: a survey

Abstract

Emergency evacuation planning is essential in disaster management. Numerous evacuation model and optimization algorithms have been developed and implemented for various types of emergencies mainly in natural and man-made disaster. This paper reviews such approaches focusing on macroscopic in emergency evacuation planning. The strength and weaknesses of algorithms and models are described. Variables considered in algorithms such as number of evacuee and evacuation time have been seen important to be applied to real evacuation scenario. Most of optimization algorithms demonstrate promising results in minimizing travelling time from the affected area to safety. Thus, algorithms should be enhanced to consider different scales of evacuation in different type of disasters. With the provision of efficient evacuation planning, it would help relevant authorities to reduce risk disaster management by offering a tool to support evacuation processes.