Formulating earthquake response modes in Iran

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to try and find the optimal distribution of rescuers after an earthquake with a very large magnitude caused major damage in two different cities. A model was developed to optimally divide all of the available rescuer workers such that the expected number of lives saved was maximized. When the method was tested on random sets of data on average a 5% improvement in lives saved was found. However it was also determined that there was a positive relationship between percent improvement and severity of the earthquake. This shows that the method is especially effective when extreme amounts of damage occur.