Location and analysis of emergency management Points of Distributions for Hurricane Ike

Christopher A. Chung, PhD; Charles E. Donaghey, PhD

doi:10.5055/jem.2010.0040

Authors

Christopher A. Chung, PhD
Charles E. Donaghey, PhD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2010.0040

Keywords:

PODs, hurricane, emergency

Abstract

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike caused massive destruction along the Gulf Coast of the United States. In response to subsistence shortages caused by infrastructure damage, government officials opened 26 Points of Distributions (PODs) to distribute food, water, and ice. To analyze the accessibility of these PODs, a Microsoft Windows software program POD Locator was developed by the researchers. This program calculated the average distance of each area residents’ home location to the closest of the 26 PODs to be 6.41 miles. In comparison, POD Locator identified an alternative set of 26 PODs with an average distance of 3.71 miles for an average reduction in travel of 46 percent. POD Locator also identified the fact that similar performance to the actual 26 PODs was achievable with only 10 PODs.

Author Biographies

Christopher A. Chung, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.

Charles E. Donaghey, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.

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