Optimal Fit Non-linear Function for Allocating Emergency Goods during Initial Stage of Disaster Relief in Malolos City

Abstract

This paper discusses the establishment of an automated allocation of emergency goods, through optimal fitting of non-linear function to a set of data from the past calamity experienced in Malolos City, as an alternative to existing manual allocation done by the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Non-linear equations are generated specifically for every barangay in Malolos City using FITFUN function in Matlab. FMINSEARCH function, an implementation of the Nelder-Mead simplex (direct search) algorithm, is also used to minimize a nonlinear function of several variables of. The generated non-linear equations will be utilized to come up with the right number of emergency goods to be allocated on various affected points (barangay) depending on the intensity of the rain; rain factor is to be used as system’s input. This paper aims to eliminate the manual process done by the authority in allocating emergency goods to affected areas. Although this paper focuses more on relief goods demand chain operations on flood and typhoon scenario, the simulation framework is intended to be general so that it can be used in modeling other types of natural and man-made disasters such as earthquake, fire and bioterrorism.