Browsing by Subject "Humanitarian assistance."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Open Access
Debris removal during disaster response phase : a case for Turkey
(2013) Şahin, Halenur
In this study, a methodology to provide emergency relief supplies to the disaster affected regions is developed. As a result of destructive effects of disasters, debris, which is the ruin and wreckage of the structures, occurs. Proper removal of debris has significant importance since it blocks the roads and prohibits emergency aid teams to access the disaster affected regions. Wrong disaster management, lack of efficiency and delays in debris removal cause disruptions in providing sheltering, nutrition, healthcare and communication services to the disaster victims, and more importantly they result in loss of lives. Due to the importance of a systematic and efficient way of debris removal from the point of improving disaster victims’ life quality and its contributions to transportation of emergency relief materials to the disaster affected regions, the focus of this study is providing emergency relief supplies to the disaster affected regions as soon as possible, by considering unblocking operations of roads through removing the accumulated debris. To come up with a scientific solution methodology to the problem, mathematical models that select the paths in order to transport emergency aid materials in the presence of debris to the pre-determined disaster affected regions are developed. The performances of the models are tested on two distinct data sets from İstanbul. Since it is crucial to act quickly in an emergency case, a constructive and an improvement heuristic are also proposed.
Open Access
A Decision support system for shelter site selection with GIS intergration : case for Turkey
(2012) Kılcı, Fırat
In this study, a methodology for locating shelter sites after a disaster is developed. Currently, in Turkey, Turkish Red Crescent is responsible for selecting the location of shelter areas. First, they identify the candidate shelter site locations. Then, they rank those locations by using a weighted average function composed of eleven criteria and whenever there is an emergency, they utilize the locations with the highest ranking until there is enough space to house the affected population. To improve Turkish Red Crescent’s methodology, a mathematical model that selects the best possible combination of shelter sites from a set of candidate locations, controls the utilization of those sites and assigns every district to its closest shelter site is developed. The mathematical model is implemented with a decision support system. The decision support system, which is developed in C#, is an ArcGIS extension that uses Gurobi optimization software. With the decision support system, the user is able to solve the problem, obtain an initial solution, edit the solution and view the solution on the map that is generated by ArcGIS. To test the model with a greater data set, a sample data based on the Asian side of Istanbul is used.
Open Access
Determination of shelter locations and evacuation routes for a possible earthquake in the city of Istanbul
(2012) Kırıkçı, Ceyda
In this study, the location of disaster response and relief facilities in Istanbul is investigated in view of a possible earthquake. Our objective is to determine and analyze the assignments of demand nodes to shelter nodes. We propose two mathematical models for this purpose. Model 1 is a path based model, in which the possible paths are determined by preprocessing the network data to assign demands to shelters while obeying path capacities. Model 2 is an arc based model that uses the network data directly and creates the paths as a byproduct of the solution. Both of the models ensure that each demand node is served by at least a shelter node in accordance with road and shelter capacities. We examine the effect of the shelter capacity, the number of shelters, and the road capacities on the results in different cases. In these cases, we find out that the shelter capacity, number of shelters, and road capacities influence the shelters to be opened, the assignment of the demand nodes to these shelters and the used arcs/paths in this assignment.
Open Access
Doctrine and practice of humanitarian interventions
(2008) Kocaman, Ayşegül
Humanitarian intervention lies at the center of contradictory relations between the principle of state sovereignty and the responsibility to protect human rights. Whereas some theorists define humanitarian interventions as violation of the basic principle of international law and relations, that is the non-intervention principle, and other theorists see humanitarian interventions as the legal and legitimate way of protecting the security of all humanity in the world. The purpose of this study is to contend that the international community has the responsibility to intervene to prevent humanitarian crises. The emerging norm of “responsibility to protect” is getting wider acceptance and support among the scholars in the literature; although no consensus on the legitimacy of humanitarian interventions has been achieved so far. This research also attempts to clarify that the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian interventions is limited to the cases of threats to international peace and security and where there is prior authorization by the United Nations Security Council based on the Charter.