Scenario-Based Multi-Objective Location-Routing Model for Pre-Disaster Planning: A Philippine Case Study

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

This paper proposed a stochastic multi-objective location-routing mathematical model for the creation of a humanitarian network for disaster response. The authors considered the strategic and tactical strata of decision-making in crisis response. The selection of the quantity and location of facilities, as well as the distribution of available capacity among them, are referred to as strategic decisions. Operations considerations include choices regarding the number of vehicles to be used, the route to take, and the transfer of impacted individuals to evacuation centres. The proposed model had three objectives: minimizing the total cost of the network's infrastructure, minimizing the amount of time spent travelling through it, and minimizing the number of vehicles. The Multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) technique was used to resolve the model. The proposed model has been applied to a case study in Quezon Province, which contains 1,242 barangays and is regularly hit by typhoons, the proposed model was applied. The overall topic of this paper is interesting, however, the structure of the manuscript is not well, and the utilised method is selected without a dept analysis. The paper needs to be revised completely before further consideration.

1.       In the title and abstract authors have mentioned “Humanitarian Evacuation Network” as the problem to be considered. While, evacuation planning problem is various topic which needs to be clearly addressed, e.g., mass evacuation, large-scale evacuation, transit-based evacuation and so on.

2.       Following the previous comment, if the main focus of the manuscript is evacuation planning, the literature review and research gap analysis should be revised completely.

3.       Authors should provide a comprehensive research methodology section to clarify how they have developed the research steps.

4.       In the title, abstract, and conclusion authors mentioned that they have considered a stochastic version of the model, but there is no uncertainty parameter in the model nor in the solution method.

5.       What about the scenarios? How can you justify that scenarios are plausible? Any surveys?

6.       Why meta-heuristic algorithms? How can you demonstrate you need them, and not exact methods?

7.       Based on the previous comment, authors should justify the selection of MOPSO?

8.       Verification and validation of the results including comparisons with other methods should be provided.

9.       The type of disaster and its critical features should be reflected in the model development.

10.   The writing of the paper needs to be revised thoroughly. For instance, in line 18 authors started with “ The demand for humanitarian evacuation grows daily as the incidence of calamities rises.”, and in lines 22 and 23 they repeated the same content “The demand for humanitarian evacuation grows daily as the incidence of calamities rises.”.

11.   Future research directions should be elaborated.

Author Response

Hi, 

Please see the attachment for the response in the referee's comments.

Thank you!

Regards

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

This is an interesting topic. It can be considered with major changes, as follows:

1.      The contributions of the paper are not clear enough. I suggest the authors to show them in a specific position.

2.      The section of Literatures Review need to be enhanced carefully, especially the content of Location-Routing problem for Humanitarian Evacuation Network should be mentioned.

3.      The paper has not been well organized. Look the samples of the journal for some advice. For example, Line 319, where is the (2)?; Algorithm 1: MOPSO; Table 3; The position of figures, Fig 5?;

4.      I suggest the authors to redraw pictures with curves, you can try to use Matlab, Phython or other efficient tools, which will be very helpful for improvement of the paper’ s quality.

5.      More discussion is needed to verify the effectiveness of the MPSO.

6.      Check and improve English language.

7.      The following papers may be used in the literature review:

-A multi-objective optimization model for logistic planning in the crisis response phase

- A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the multi-objective location-routing problem in the early post-disaster stage

- Credit Portfolio Management Using Two-level Particle Swarm Optimization

-Multi-swarm particle swarm optimization based risk management model for virtual enterprise

-Optimization model for temporary depot problem in flood disaster response

Author Response

Hi, 

Please see the attachment for the authors' response to the reviewer's comments.

Thank you!

Regards

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Overall, the paper is informative and provides an above-average contribution. The model presented is also applicable and valid. I have a few comments though. 1. The model is more or less context specific. Kindly provide more evidence/proof/basis on how to apply the model in different contexts. 2. In the introduction, you mentioned the 4 phases of the disaster to include avoidance, preparation, response and recovery. However, avoidance is not a phase, rather mitigation. Disasters should not be avoided. So please replace the term avoidance by mitigation. 3. The definition of disaster management should be provided. 4. Please unify the use of terms. You are using the terms crisis and disaster interchangeably, while the two terms are different. You should provide a clear distinction between the two. 5. More detail on the significance of the response phase should be provided. In the end, evacuation is part of the response phase. I recommend to cite:

Sawalha, I. (2018) "Behavioural response patterns: an investigation of the early stages of major incidents", foresight, Vol. 20 Issue: 4, pp.337-352, https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-12-2017-0073. The study also discusses the issue of the "golden period", "window of opportunities". 

The main issue is to provide more discussion on the wider application of the model with some practical and theoretical proof. The disaster management cycle should also be addressed (DMC). 

Good luck in your research.

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Thank you very much & best regards!

- The Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

This manuscript can be accepted in this form.

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Thank you & best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

The author failed to answer and revise the paper on most of the key point mentioned in the comments. For example,

1. The section of Literatures Review need to be enhanced carefully, especially the content of Location-Routing problem for Humanitarian Evacuation Network should be mentioned. I can’t find ‘Humanitarian Evacuation Planning’ in the Literatures Review;

2. I suggest the authors to redraw pictures with curves, you can try to use Matlab, Phython or other efficient tools, which will be very helpful for improvement of the paper’ s quality. The figures have not been improved;

3. More discussion is needed to verify the effectiveness of the MPSO. The effectiveness of the MPSO has not been verified, only comparing with Lexicographic optimization, where is it?

Author Response

Please see the attached file.

Thank you very much and best regards!

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

The paper can be accepted.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Although the paper's topic is intriguing, it has a long way to go before it is suitable for a prestigious journal. My decision is to reject, and I will only mention a few key points.

First, it should be stated that the case study presented in this paper oversimplifies a humanitarian issue. While I believe that this simple model is incapable of handling realistic disaster scenarios,

In addition, the literature contains numerous papers that are significantly superior to this example. In actuality, this model is quite simple.

The introduction's logic is unacceptable. In this study, several generalisations have been made.

In this study, many studies were overlooked.

·       Tofighi, S., S. Ali Torabi, and S. Afshin Mansouri. "Humanitarian logistics network design under mixed uncertainty." European Journal of Operational Research 250.1 (2016): 239-250.

·       Paciarotti, Claudia, Wojciech D. Piotrowicz, and George Fenton. "Humanitarian logistics and supply chain standards. Literature review and view from practice." Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management (2021).

·       Sun, Huali, et al. "A novel scenario-based robust bi-objective optimization model for humanitarian logistics network under risk of disruptions." Transportation research part E: logistics and transportation review 157 (2022): 102578.

·       Nezhadroshan, Ali Mehdi, Amir Mohammad Fathollahi-Fard, and Mostafa Hajiaghaei-Keshteli. "A scenario-based possibilistic-stochastic programming approach to address resilient humanitarian logistics considering travel time and resilience levels of facilities." International Journal of Systems Science: Operations & Logistics 8.4 (2021): 321-347.

·       Shokr, Iman, Fariborz Jolai, and Ali Bozorgi-Amiri. "A novel humanitarian and private sector relief chain network design model for disaster response." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 65 (2021): 102522.

·       Demirbas, Sefika, and Mustafa Alp Ertem. "Determination of equivalent warehouses in humanitarian logistics by reallocation of multiple item type inventories." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 66 (2021): 102603.

THIS LIST is endless!!!

The presented solution method is inadequately explained. It should be compared to other techniques, such as NSGA-II and MOPSO see:

Gharib, Zahra, et al. "Developing an integrated model for planning the delivery of construction materials to post-disaster reconstruction projects." Journal of Computational Design and Engineering 9.3 (2022): 1135-1156.

Gharib, Zahra, et al. "Post-Disaster Temporary Shelters Distribution after a Large-Scale Disaster: An Integrated Model." Buildings 12.4 (2022): 414.

Author Response

Please see attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper has an interesting title that could benefit the disaster management corpus, however, I am so sorry to say that the overall quality of the manuscript disappointed me. There are major concerns which should be addressed before considering the publication.

1- What does the "Hierarchical facility location problem" mean? Authors have to provide a reasonable definition for their intention.

2- In the abstract section authors mentions critical issues in the disaster management process (pre-and post-disaster stages by optimizing the number and location of distribution hubs 19 and evacuation centres), however, I am so confused that these steps which entail various decisions are handled by only two decision variables considered in the model formulation!

3- Authors declare managing evacuation time ("managing mandatory evacuation within the permissible response time"), but how? The problem definition and model formulation does not reflect it.

4- Overall, I can say the model and the assumptions are too simple to consider a real case of disaster.

5- What types of disasters could be handled by the provided approach?

6- The solution method for multi-objective optimization is an outdated approach, and authors can use much more efficient methods that are presented recently.

7- Validity and verification of the proposed model are not presented.

8- The printed case study is not comprehensive and the analysis of the results should be elaborated.

9- Authors are invited to read the following papers to get a wide perspective of the considered problem:

Mohammadnazari, Zahra, et al. "Prioritizing Post-Disaster Reconstruction Projects Using an Integrated Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach: A Case Study." Buildings 12.2 (2022): 136.

Yazdani, Maziar, Mohammad Mojtahedi, and Martin Loosemore. "Enhancing evacuation response to extreme weather disasters using public transportation systems: A novel simheuristic approach." Journal of Computational Design and Engineering 7.2 (2020): 195-210.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx