Gary Fetter, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

Locating Emergency Shelters using Voronoi Diagrams

During the response phase of a disaster, emergency logistic activities are focused on saving lives by
rescuing and evacuating people from danger zones and by providing food, water, shelter, and medical
supplies and treatment to people in affected areas. Because of the urgent nature of these activities,
temporary emergency centers can significantly improve the ability of emergency personnel to respond
successfully by increasing the speed at which these life‐saving supplies and services reach those in need.
Emergency management coordinators are challenged to activate temporary emergency shelters and
centers at locations that maximize coverage to those injured or affected by the disaster. This paper
presents an approach for locating temporary emergency shelters and centers using Voronoi diagrams.
Advantages of Voronoi diagrams compared to traditional mathematical programming techniques are
discussed. Model results are presented and compared to actual shelter locations for a region affected
by a recent hurricane.