Research on Optimizing the Location and Layout of National Emergency Material Reserve
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article lacks a clearly defined research objective.
The lack of a scientifically determined distribution of the material reserve base cannot be a new research problem because there are logistics methods capable of identifying the optimal allocation of such facilities and their quantity. The authors in this area do not present new ways and only discuss existing ones.
A more exciting problem seems to be determining the volume of emergency resources to be accumulated. This problem requires taking into account the domino effect and the cascading effect. It is, therefore, necessary to identify the course of an adverse event. This will allow us to identify the products and determine the material reserves volume.
The authors rightly note that the location of backup resource centers should be correlated with the emergency management system. However, they do not undertake an analysis to identify the advantages and disadvantages of China's emergency management system. In particular, they do not compare with other leading systems, e.g., Australian, European, and US.
The authors formulate hypotheses in a non-specific way which makes them difficult to verify. I believe hypotheses H1, H2, and H4 are only assumptions.
The authors define the criteria to be included in the model. Their explanation is lacking, which gives the impression that they were chosen arbitrarily. The selection of variables in the model is similar.
In the results chapter, the authors discuss the results by describing the computing machine. The speed of computation in strategic decisions is not very important. It is essential to obtain a high-quality, generated solution.
Few literature items are analyzed in the article. In addition, only half can be considered current.
In my opinion, the article raises an essential issue in crisis management. At the same time, the authors have not presented a new method for solving this decision-making problem. In addition, the chosen methodology is not commented on correctly, making it impossible to assess its quality. In addition, the article deals only with China's management system, which is not adequately discussed in the study. For this reason, the study is directed only to readers familiar with China's crisis management system.
Author Response
Dear Editors and Reviewers
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on optimizing the location and layout of China's national emergency material reserve base for high-quality development” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval.
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript.
We appreciate your enthusiastic work, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Yours sincerely,
Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments
The emergency material stockpile is an important measure to improve the effectiveness of national emergency management. How to plan and optimize the construction of emergency material reserves is an important issue in dealing with emergencies in all regions, including China. Therefore, the authors' selected topic is of great scientific significance and practical value. The main recommendations are as follows.
1． The title of the text is not enough to reflect the quality of development, and it is suggested that the title should be revised.
2． The analysis of how transportation distances and modes of transportation (air, road, and rail) affect the construction of national emergency material reserve bases is recommended to be strengthened. Also, whether there is an intrinsic connection between transport distances and modes of transport and their characteristics in the effectiveness of emergency supplies transport needs to be analyzed by the authors.
3． In terms of point distribution, there are east-west differences in China's emergency supplies reserve bases. For the western region, although the population is smaller, it is a disaster-prone region, which points to whether there is an optimization for the planning of emergency supplies reserve. This may need to be analyzed by the authors.
4． It is suggested that the authors add a general characterization of China's emergency material reserve system, not only at the national level, but also at the local government level. This implies the characteristics of the construction of emergency material reserve bases in different emergencies. In addition, the material characteristics of emergency material reserve bases have different management entities, involving both the Ministry of Emergency Management and the material reserve bureaus of the Ministry of Finance and the Development and Reform Commission. Therefore, the authors want to analyze these contents appropriately in the relevant sections. This is because it is of great practical value to the characteristics of the emergency materials themselves and their reserves.
5． The gap between the scientific optimization of the construction of the emergency material reserve base and the actual distribution, which needs to be combined with the frequency of disasters and the types and characteristics of disasters occurring in its region. It is also still closely related to various factors such as transportation environment and population density. It is suggested that the authors add a discussion session on this
Author Response
Dear Editors and Reviewers
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on optimizing the location and layout of China's national emergency material reserve base for high-quality development” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval.
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript.
We appreciate your enthusiastic work, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Yours sincerely,
Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The emergency material stockpile is an important measure to improve the effectiveness of national emergency management. Planning and optimizing the construction of emergency material reserves is essential in dealing with emergencies in all states.
Therefore, the authors' selected topic is of great scientific significance and practical value.
The authors have significantly improved their study. In particular, the model's description, which can now apply to a case other than the one described in the article, has been improved.
In my opinion, the article provides critical practical findings. Its weakness remains the scientific treatment of the problem.
The main recommendations are as follows.
The authors referred to the Anglo-Saxon model of crisis management. They did not discuss the model used in the EU. In addition, there is no indication of the strengths and weaknesses of the compared crisis management models.
In Table 1, the authors present a list of criteria that should be considered when determining the location of a storage base. These criteria are derived from a combination of literature analysis and interviews. What is missing is an indication of the principles of inclusion and segregation of the requirements that should be considered when determining the location of a storage base. There is a similar problem with Factors influencing site selection of emergency material reserve base facilities in the state (Table 2).
In my opinion, the Hypotheses in this study are assumptions of the model, not hypotheses. A hypothesis something assumes some fact whose occurrence determines a particular effect, which can be verified (confirmed or denied). I suggest that the authors abandon calling model assumptions hypotheses.
Author Response
Dear Editors and Reviewers
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on optimizing the location and layout of national emergency material reserve” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085).
Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The author basically solved the problem and replied to the suggestion I made last time. I have no new questions.
Author Response
Dear Editors and Reviewers
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on optimizing the location and layout of national emergency material reserve” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2011085).
Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
