Robust weighted vertex p-center model considering uncertain data: An application to emergency management

•Weighted p-center model is proposed for locating urgent relief distribution centers.•Uncertain relief demands and delivery times are represented by fixed intervals.•The objective is to optimize worst-case performances.•Property of worst-case scenarios is identified and applied in the algorithm.•The proposed model is applied to a real-world case based on a massive earthquake. This paper presents a generalized weighted vertex p-center (WVPC) model that represents uncertain nodal weights and edge lengths using prescribed intervals or ranges. The objective of the robust WVPC (RWVPC) model is to locate p facilities on a given set of candidate sites so as to minimize worst-case deviation in maximum weighted distance from the optimal solution. The RWVPC model is well-suited for locating urgent relief distribution centers (URDCs) in an emergency logistics system responding to quick-onset natural disasters in which precise estimates of relief demands from affected areas and travel times between URDCs and affected areas are not available. To reduce the computational complexity of solving the model, this work proposes a theorem that facilitates identification of the worst-case scenario for a given set of facility locations. Since the problem is NP-hard, a heuristic framework is developed to efficiently obtain robust solutions. Then, a specific implementation of the framework, based on simulated annealing, is developed to conduct numerical experiments. Experimental results show that the proposed heuristic is effective and efficient in obtaining robust solutions. We also examine the impact of the degree of data uncertainty on the selected performance measures and the tradeoff between solution quality and robustness. Additionally, this work applies the proposed RWVPC model to a real-world instance based on a massive earthquake that hit central Taiwan on September 21, 1999.