An Operational Scheme for Dynamic Resource Management In Case of Natural Disaster Events

The management of the resources engaged in emergencies due to the occurrence of very intense natural events requires the acquisition and processing of a huge number of heterogeneous data. Such data, both of deterministic and random nature, generally refer to different spatial and temporal scales. Considering the three main frameworks in which a natural risk scenario can be classified (i.e., preventive, emergency, and post-emergency phases), risk assessment has to be followed by a decision-oriented phase, whose objective is the selection of the optimal actions to undertake, on the basis of the available information. In the paper, the conceptual scheme and the system architecture of a hierarchical decisional model relevant to a natural risk emergency scenario are considered and discussed in detail. Such a scheme relies on system modelling and optimisation techniques, and is based on different decisions layers. At the top of the hierarchy, a decision centre makes use of aggregated information, generated by specific models, in order to relocate resources to the local centres. The lower centres must cope with the (forecasted or actually reported) emergency events with their own resources, basing their strategy both on the local information sets, and on the aggregated data provided by the highest decisional centre.