See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/327893401

Logistics system for drinking water distribution in post disaster humanitarian

relief, Al-Za’atari camp

Article  in  Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management · September 2018

DOI: 10.1108/JHLSCM-12-2017-0072

CITATIONS READS

3 924

3 authors, including:

Hazem Smadi Nader Al Theeb

Jordan University of Science and Technology Jordan University of Science and Technology
17 PUBLICATIONS   19 CITATIONS    16 PUBLICATIONS   25 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Cold Supply Chain, Scheduling View project

Scheduling View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Nader Al Theeb on 21 November 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Logistics system for drinking water distribution in post disaster humanitarian
relief, Al-Za’atari camp
Hazem Smadi, Nader Al Theeb, Haneen Bawa’neh,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Hazem Smadi, Nader Al Theeb, Haneen Bawa’neh, (2018) "Logistics system for drinking water
distribution in post disaster humanitarian relief, Al-Za’atari camp", Journal of Humanitarian Logistics
and Supply Chain Management, https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-12-2017-0072
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-12-2017-0072
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

Downloaded on: 30 September 2018, At: 01:07 (PT)

References: this document contains references to 69 other documents.
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 1 times since 2018*
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by
Token:Eprints:JJC8S8BHMRBQCR7JXPNN:
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald
for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission
guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company
manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as
well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and
services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for
digital archive preservation.

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-6747.htm

Logistics
Logistics system for drinking system for
water distribution in post drinking water
distribution
disaster humanitarian relief,
Al-Za’atari camp
Hazem Smadi, Nader Al Theeb and Haneen Bawa’neh Received 11 December 2017
Revised 24 January 2018
Department of Industrial Engineering, 21 June 2018
9 July 2018
Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan Accepted 18 July 2018

Abstract
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

Purpose – It is essential to provide drinking water to affected population directly after a disaster.
The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimization methodology that helps in the distribution of drinking
water in post-disaster situations.
Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted on two phases: phase 1 aims at identifying
an appropriate way to deliver drinking water to refugee camps from external sources, considering required
drinking water quantities and four possible sources of water with respect to cost and risk assessments. Phase 2
investigates drinking water distribution within a refugee camp using covering models. The MCLP–optimal
number of facilities model is proposed to ensure that the water is distributed and delivered to all individuals in a
camp with minimum number of water storage tanks required. A control policy is proposed to ensure the fair
distribution of water to all targeted individuals.
Findings – Al-Za’atari refugee camp, located in northeast of Jordan, was considered as the case study for this
research. The result showed that the appropriate way to deliver water to the camp is by using tanker–trucks,
and a minimum number of five tanks are required to distribute water to individuals inside the camp with
respect to tank locations and the allocation of tank of each area.
Originality/value – The proposed methodology is essential in decision making for the distribution of
drinking water in refugee camps in short-term needs. The model adds important value to the literature as the
proposed problem has no solution in the literature before.
Keywords Humanitarian logistics, Disaster relief operations, Al-Za’atari camp
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Over the past decades, the world has witnessed many disasters due to wars, terrorism and
natural disasters. These disasters have led to many thousands of deaths, displaced millions
of people and forced millions to flee their country as refugees. With respect to refugees,
world refugee numbers continue to grow due to various political, environmental and conflict
situations. After leaving their country, many refugees relocate to camps in neighboring
countries while others assimilate into the society of the new host country. Relocating
refugees to another country creates a challenge for the host country to satisfy basic needs
for them (Tomaszewski et al., 2015).
Whether it is a man-made or natural disaster that causes people to leave their country,
humanitarian aids must be provided to the people who are affected by those disasters
immediately during and after disaster periods. The emergency supplies include food, water,
sanitation, medication, shelters, etc. Delivery of the humanitarian aid from suppliers to
beneficiaries must be executed as quickly as possible (Hong et al., 2015; Hamedi et al., 2012).
According to UNICEF (2015), “Water, sanitation and hygiene are critical for survival in the
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics
The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Research at Jordan University of Science and and Supply Chain Management
Technology, Irbid, Jordan for the grant number (20150358, Proposal No. 390-2015) funded to perform © Emerald Publishing Limited
2042-6747
this research. DOI 10.1108/JHLSCM-12-2017-0072
 JHLSCM initial stages of an emergency. People in emergencies are more susceptible to illness and
death from diseases that are often caused by lack of sanitation, inadequate safe water
supplies and poor hygiene.”
It is a vital need to supply any community with an adequate quantity of clean water to
stimulate productive work and help improve personal hygiene, food preparation and
healthcare among the beneficiaries. Providing refugees with a continuous supply of
drinking water with a high quality and with minimal risk to human health is highly
significant and should take into account their special, social, economic and political
characteristics (United Nations, 1992).
This research paper presents results of a detailed study to define the best method to
supply refugees with clean drinking water. In addition, this study aims to distribute this
water within refugee camp efficiently using covering models. A model is proposed here to
ensure that this water is distributed in the best possible way and to ensure that total
demand on water is covered with the minimum number of water reservoirs. In addition, this
study focuses on the short-term needs (emergency), which include meeting the basic needs
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

of refugees until more permanent and sustainable solutions can be found. It is highly
imperative to provide rapid-response aid and to find a direct solution considering the time
restrictions inherent in emergency situation. The main goal of this study is to optimize the
supply and distribution of drinking water in refugee camps. This would be conducted in two
phases: phase 1 is to determine the quantity of water supplied, as well as the proper method
to supply water to refugee camps considering four possible options in the short-term;
using tanker trucks, ground water, ground water–pipelines combinations and ground
water–tanker trucks combinations. The best alternative is chosen considering two factors:
cost and risk. Phase 2 concerns with determining the distribution of supplied water within
the camps using covering models. A control policy is proposed to ensure the fair distribution
of water to all people.

2. Background and literature review

According to the United Nations (1992), a disaster can be defined as “a sudden catastrophic
event that causes serious disruption of the functioning of a society causing widespread
human, material, economic and/or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the
affected society to cope with using its own level of resources.” It can be classified based on
its causes into two main categories: natural or man-made disasters, where natural disasters
are caused by natural hazards, and man-made disasters are caused by human action
(Ergun et al., 2010).
Disaster relief management refers to the process of responding to a catastrophic event by
providing humanitarian aid to the affected communities who have suffered from disaster.
Disaster relief is a multi-phase process; these phases vary in the research methods used to
address them. Many researchers prefer the four-phase process: mitigation, preparedness,
response and recovery, based on the national comprehensive emergency management
concept proposed in 1978 (Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, 2010). Other
researchers such as Lee and Zbinden (2003) discussed three phases of disaster relief
operations: preparedness, during operation and post operation. Kovács and Spens (2007)
discussed the same three phases but with different operations within disaster relief
being identified as preparation, immediate response and reconstruction. There is also
another two-phase method: disaster mitigation, which includes assessment, prevention and
preparedness, and disaster response, which includes relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction
(United Nations, 1992).
This study follows the two-phase approach: disaster mitigation and disaster response.
The focus is on the disaster response phase, which includes activities in both short-term
immediate responses and long-term recoveries and reconstruction after the onset of disasters.
 The short-term immediate response is the main research interest here because it is highly Logistics
important to immediately provide the affected people with food, clean water, shelters and system for
medical care. drinking water
Humanitarian logistics refers to the processes of gathering people, resources, skills and
knowledge to help people affected by natural disasters and complex emergencies. It includes distribution
a range of activities: preparedness, planning, procurement, transport, warehousing, tracking
and tracing, and customs clearance (Thomas and Kopczak, 2005). We focus here on
transporting and distributing activities. Humanitarian logistics is the most important part in
any disaster relief management; it comprises over 80 percent of the total costs in disaster
relief (Van Wassenhove, 2005). Therefore, investing in logistics in disaster relief will help to
develop an effective and efficient use of resources (Cozzolino et al., 2012). Owusu-Kwateng
et al. (2017) developed a framework that focuses on all actors in a disaster for the analysis of
relief logistics operations incorporated with the effectiveness of inventory management to
evaluate the performance of relief logistics in a disaster in Ghana. Jahre et al. (2018)
developed a checklist based on refugee camp design literature and conducted it on multi-site
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

case study in four different countries to help in evolutionary perspective in designing new
camps considering social implications.
We consider here the two broad types of activities that humanitarian aid organizations and
non-governmental organizations NGOs engage in. The first type is relief activities, “short-term
activities”: these activities focus on providing goods and services to victims of large-scale
emergencies to minimize immediate risks to human health and survival. While the second
type is the development activities, “long-term aid”: these activities focus on providing
self-sufficiency and sustainability to an affected community, including establishing
permanent and reliable transportation, healthcare, housing and food (Byman, 2002).
Several studies have investigated relief distribution. This kind of distribution provides
food, medicine, shelters, work force, sanitation and other related relief resources to affected
people (Caunhye et al., 2012). A number of researchers have studied the distribution of relief
aids in general, where they focus on optimizing the flow of multiple supplies through
distribution networks. For example, Safeer et al. (2014) reviewed modeling parameters for
objective functions and constraints in humanitarian logistics distribution. Their research
focuses on increasing the supply of relief aid. Berkoune et al. (2012) focused on transporting
equipment and numerous humanitarian supplies in order to help and provide relief to
victims. Haghani (1996) and Oh and Haghani (1997) defined detailed scheduling plans for
transporting various supplies from multiple supply points in a disaster relief operation, with
the assumption that the supply quantities are known. Barbarosoglu and Arda (2004)
developed a scenario-based, two-stage stochastic programming model for transportation
planning in disaster response. They elaborated a multi-commodity, multi-modal network
flow formulation to describe the flow of material over an urban transportation network.
In addition, Özdamar et al. (2004) addressed an emergency logistics problem for distributing
multiple commodities to distribution centers near the affected areas. Falasca and Zobel
(2011) constructed a model for procurement in humanitarian relief based in a two-stage
stochastic decision process. The model has helped more efficiently and effectively to capture
the uncertainty inherited in disaster relief cases and procurement process. It also has helped
decision makers to improve the procurement decision processes.
Bozorgi-Amiri et al. (2012) drew up a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model to
design a supply chain for disaster relief. The model addresses uncertainties in the demand,
supply and transportation. In addition, the model helps decision makers in determining the
location of relief distribution centers and the allocation of each center through the
minimization of location, procurement, transportation, holding and shortage costs, as
well as the variance of total cost. On the other hand, Camacho-Vallejo et al. (2015) considered
studying specific multiple supplies in their research. They proposed a two-tiered
 JHLSCM mathematical programming model for humanitarian logistics to optimize decisions
related to the distribution of multiple certain necessary products, such as bottled water, food
and medicine.
There are very limited studies regarding single commodity distribution, where the relief
supply type is definite. For example, Mete and Zabinsky (2010) analyzed the distribution of
medical supplies to be used for disaster management under a wide variety of possible
disaster types and magnitudes. Other authors have studied the transportation and
distribution of food aid, including Knott (1988), De Angelis et al. (2007), Rancourt et al. (2014),
Rancourt et al. (2015) and Paul and Wang (2015).
Access to safe drinking water is one of the primary priorities following a disaster. It is
challenging to provide drinking water to the affected individuals. Limited research has been
concerned with drinking water distribution in emergencies. Among these researchers are
Nolz et al. (2010), who developed a decision support model through multi-objective
metaheuristic algorithm as an extension of multi-objective covering problem to help in
planning water distribution for emergencies in disasters. Also, the proposed model takes
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

into consideration heterogeneous transport modes and different road types. But most of the
studies concerned with providing drinking water to people affected by disasters have
focused on the treatment of drinking water, such as Ali et al. (2015), who investigated water
treatment practices in refugee camps in South Sudan, and Butler et al. (2013), who examined
water treatment in emergency situations. These studies assume that water is available and
only is need of being treated. Nonetheless, it is essential to determine the most efficient
method to supply water in the first place.
Loo et al. (2012) reviewed water technologies, including membrane technologies that
are suitable for use in emergencies for drinking water supply. Wendt et al. (2015) provided
a protocol on how to produce hydro geological questionnaire maps for humanitarian
purposes using remote sensing data and geographic information system to get clean
drinking groundwater.
It is essential that water is supplied to the affected population in an efficient and effective
way and as soon as possible. Covering models are very successful in this regard; they have
many applications in emergency situations. For example, Rajagopalan et al. (2008)
developed a multi-period set covering location model for the dynamic relocation of
ambulances to determine the minimum number of ambulances and their locations.
Considering the supply of humanitarian aid, Naji-Azimi et al. (2012) designed a covering tour
approach to the location of satellite distribution centers. Also, Balcik et al. (2008) proposed a
model that can be used for the scheduling of vehicles that will deliver supplies from local
distribution centers to areas affected by disasters using last mile distribution. The model is
considered as a mixed-integer programming model that incorporates vehicle capacities and
delivery time restrictions for delivering required supplies to the affected areas. The authors
point out that looking for a faster algorithm to solve the model may help to solve the last
mile distribution problem, as the problem increases in complexity along with a rise in the
number of nodes and routes.
Covering models are extensively used in facility location applications, particularly for
locating facilities in emergencies. The main concept for such models is that the demand is
covered if it is located within a specified distance or time, which is called covering distance
or covering time. According to Schilling et al. (1993), covering models are classified into two
main categories based on the covering concept: set covering models, which aim to choose
facilities among a finite set of potential sites, such that all demand is covered with a
minimum number of facilities. In addition, maximal covering models that choose facility
locations to maximize the amount of covered demand subject to resource limitations.
In disaster relief, using set covering models would mean that to cover each potential
demand point, it must be within a specified distance or time of a facility. However, covering
 the entire demand of every potential disaster scenario this way may not be cost-efficient or Logistics
even feasible. Therefore, maximal covering models are more suitable for relief network system for
design, as concluded by Balcik and Beamon (2008), who proposed a model that is a drinking water
derivative of maximum covering location to determine the required locations and numbers
of distribution centers to respond for emergency relief as well as the amount of supplies distribution
required to be held in each center. The model incorporated budget constraints and capacity
limitations. Experiments have been conducted to illustrate the application of the model.
The results showed the importance of the pre-disaster budget and funding compared to
post-disaster funding.
The maximal covering location problem “MCLP” maximizes the total number of people
served within a maximal service distance, given a fixed number of facilities. MCLP has a
broad range of applications and has been studied extensively, after Church and ReVelle
(1974) introduced it. Many different versions of MCLP models assumed that the facilities to
be sited are uncapacitated. This means that the demand will be covered as long as it is
within the service-covering standard of any facility. However, this assumption of
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

uncapacitated facilities limits the application of covering models (Current and Storbeck,
1988). Many service facilities have limited capacities to ensure an acceptable level of service
and spatial equity (Liao and Guo, 2008; Murray and Gerrard, 1997). Therefore, the capacity
limit, the constraint addressed in this study, is an important consideration in location
problems, especially for locating emergency facilities.
Chung et al. (1983) and Current and Storbeck (1988) developed the models of capacitated
versions of the MCLP. They added maximum capacity constraints into the mathematical
formulations of the MCLP to ensure that the demands allocated to a facility will not exceed
the capacity of that facility, considering that the allocation of the demands is only within the
service-covering standard of facilities. Regarding emergencies, it would be more
practical to assign each demand to the service facility whether that demand lies within
the service-covering standard or not. Pirkul and Schilling (1991) proposed an extension of
the capacitated MCLP where all demands are assigned to facilities. Following the work of
Yin and Mu (2012), a multi-objective capacitated MCLP model is proposed, which uses an
acronym to refer to the modular capacitated maximal covering location problem (MCMCLP),
where the objective function maximizes the weighted covered demand while simultaneously
minimizing the average distance from the uncovered demands to the located facilities.
We propose in this study to extend the capacitated MCMCLP model to the emergency
facility siting problem in which a facility is capacitated with different levels to determine the
optimum number of facilities to be located, in addition of maximizing the covered demand
while minimizing the uncovered demand.

3. Methodology
The proposed methodology of this study is introduced in two phases: phase 1 concerns with
determining the proper method to transport drinking water to refugee camps from external
resources with respect to two factors: cost and risk. Phase 2 concerns in determining the
distribution of water through the camp using covering models. This study proposes a
model, which optimizes the number of water storage tanks to be located as well as to
maximize the number of covered individuals.

3.1 Phase 1
This study focuses on short-term activities due to its high importance to the early stages of
disaster relief management. The key point in this phase is to determine the quantity of water
needed, as well as determining the proper method to supply water to refugee camps,
considering four possible options in the short term: tanker truck, ground water, ground
 JHLSCM water–pipelines and ground water–tanker trucks. The best option will be chosen based on
cost as well as risk assessment process.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (1992), in
standard circumstances, the refugees have access to 15 l of water per capita for public needs;
however, under severe circumstances, this number drops to 7 l per capita, which is
considered as the minimum “survival” allocation that should be raised to 15 l per capita as
soon as possible. The human body’s basic water requirements depend on the climate,
workload and other environmental factors. A total of 3 l of water per day is the minimum
requirement as for drinking. The amount of water needed for other purposes, including
cooking or hygiene, depends on cultural habits, socio-economic factors and on the type of
the water supply. Additional water requirements for livestock, sanitation facilities, other
community services and irrigation may be of special importance in some emergency refugee
camps (UNHCR, 1992). As the main interest in this research is drinking water, 3 l per day is
the quantity needed for each refugee.
Short-term recovery should start as soon as possible in order for communities to begin
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

the necessary efforts to recover after an emergency. These efforts begin during the
immediate response phase to provide assistance to the affected local governments to restore
vital services in the transition period between the actual event response and long-term
recovery (Illinois Government, 2011).
One of the main concerns is to find the total cost of each option of water delivery.
The total cost for supplying water includes the cost of water, cost of transporting water and
cost of labor. The risk factors associated with each proposed method have been evaluated
according to the standards set by Dos Anjos (1998).
The first option of supplying water is by using tanker trucks. This method is an
extremely effective means of distributing clean water to civil and rural populations,
especially as an emergency measure. Using this option on a daily basis is more costly in the
long term than providing a piped system, but this method still provides an effective
short-term solution to a water supply problem. This option is considered when there is a
trusted source of water, whether it is groundwater or surface water, taking into account that
the water is clean and ready to use by refugees with no need of treatment. In this case, the
main supply for this water is located far from a camp location. When using this option,
extracting the cost of water, the cost of transportation and the cost of labor individually
could be ambiguous because it is difficult to breakdown the total cost into the incorporated
cost items. One of the risk factors associated with this option includes having inadequate
water supplies to meet daily basic needs, due to insufficient number of tanks, which create a
shortage of the necessary quantity. Another risk is unclean water that is polluted water with
biological, chemical or physical that makes it unsafe to use, given that the main source of
water is clean, contamination in this option is due to tank use. Long transportation time is a
risk also that may depend on the traveled distance, the road condition and the transporting
vehicle. It may lead to long waiting time for accessible water. The need for road and street
infrastructure is considered a risk for this method.
The second option of supplying water is by using ground water. According to UNHCR,
ground water in rural areas is quite often considered safe enough to be provided directly
without treatment. This option is feasible in the short term if it is already available and
located inside a camp. In this case, there is no need for a means of transportation. The total
cost covers only the water pumping-out cost without considering the cost of transportation
and labor. Risks associated with this method may include unclean water, insufficient
quantity and the depletion of ground water.
Supplying water using ground water–pipelines is considered as the third possible option
to use. This option should be considered in the short term if the ground water is near a camp
location and the pipelines are already constructed and available for use. In this case, the
 total cost includes water pumping-out costs and transportation costs. The risk factors Logistics
include: unclean water, insufficient quantity, ground water depletion and infrastructure system for
requirements. The last option to supply water using is through ground water and tanker drinking water
trucks. This option may be considered when the ground water is close to a camp location
but is not connected to pipelines. In this case, the transportation of water is completed using distribution
tanker trucks. The total cost of this option involves the cost of pumping water and the cost
of transportation. The risk factors include: unclean water, insufficient quantities, long
transportation time and the requirements of infrastructure.
Risk is evaluated with two surveys conducted by experts in the field of water supply.
The first survey is conducted to determine the most important criteria related to water
transportation risk factors, while the second survey is to determine the best method
with the least risk based on the criteria chosen on the first survey by the expert.
The proposed methods are ordered using pair-wise comparison matrices according to the
expert’s linguistic evaluations where: 1 – equal importance, 3 – moderate importance,
5 – strong importance, 7 – very strong importance and 9 – extreme importance.
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

As well, risk priority number (RPN) is assigned to each risk factor to emphasize the result.
The RPN is a valuable tool for setting priority. Each risk factor has an assigned
severity (S), probability (P) and detectability (D) values. Each of these risk elements takes
a value from 1 (least) to 10 (most). RPN is the product of these three ranks. The best
method for supplying water can be determined based on the least costly and minimum
risk options.

3.2 Phase 2
This phase concerns with locating a number of water storage tanks among a limited number
of sites such that all individuals are covered by at least one water storage tank. The problem
is modeled and will be solved in two stages. In the first stage, a clustering algorithm is
applied for demand classification into groups. In the second stage, a model is proposed
to maximize the number of population served by those water storage tanks as well as
optimizing the number of those tanks.
Cluster analysis is defined as grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in
the same group are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. The purpose of
the analysis is arranging objects into relatively similar groups based on multivariate
observations (Anderberg, 1973). Many clustering methods have been developed, each with
different application and different algorithms. They can be divided into two main groups:
hierarchical and partitioning clustering. Each of the groups has the plenty of subtypes and
different algorithms for finding the clusters (Fraley and Raftery, 1998). Hierarchical
clustering starts successively by merging smaller clusters into larger ones, or by splitting
larger clusters. Partition clustering, on the other hand, tries to decompose the data set
directly into a set of non-overlapping clusters. Such methods typically require that the
number of clusters should be pre-set by the analyzer.
K-mean clustering approach is also considered in this study due to its simplicity and its
ability of grouping the instances based on the distance which fits this research best. In other
words, grouping people using this approach takes into account that the water storage tank
will be close enough for every refugee in the camp, considering distances in such case
prevent refugees from walking for a very long distance to get water. K-means clustering is a
commonly used partitioning clustering method, where k is the number of clusters, since an
instance is assigned to the cluster for which its distance to the cluster mean is the smallest.
It starts out as follows: at first, an initial set of means should be set randomly and
classifying instances based on their distances to the centers; next, the cluster means must be
computed again, considering the assigned instances to the clusters; then, all instances must
be reclassified based on the new set of means. This step must be repeated until cluster
 JHLSCM means does not change much between successive steps. Finally, the means of the clusters
should be calculated once again and assign the instances to their permanent clusters
(Maimon and Rokach, 2005).
Maximal covering location models choose facility locations to maximize the amount of
covered demand subject to resource limitations, which is suitable for relief chain
network design. Therefore, this study proposes an extension of MCLP models called
MCLP–optimal number of facilities (MCLP–ONF) as the second stage of phase 2 of the
methodology. The formulation for the MCLP–ONF model is based on the modular
capacitated maximal covering location problem (MCMCLP) model that is developed by
Yin and Mu (2012). They developed their model to maximize the weighted covered
demand while simultaneously minimize the average distance from the uncovered
demands to the located facilities. While the MCMCLP model is useful in a number of
contexts, it is not an effective representation of emergencies because it is developed on
the assumption that the number of facilities is fixed without considering the cost and the
availability of such facilities.
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

In this study, the MCLP–ONF model aims to optimize the number of facilities needed, as
well as to maximize the weighted covered demand while at the same time, minimizing the
walking distance for refugees to the water storage tanks in our case. Optimizing number of
facilities means choosing the most suitable number, which fulfills the total demand, i.e.
taking into account any extra facility as increase in cost where the situation could be done
with a lower number with the same result. The model entails the following considerations:
the facility at each potential site has one maximum capacity, all demands need to be
allocated to facilities, and the uncovered allocated demands would be assigned based on
their proximity to facilities.
Several assumptions are made in this study to apply the MCLP–ONF model to optimally
site water storage tanks in emergencies. One assumption is that a facility has a limited
capacity. This assumption is simple but reasonable. The second assumption is the use of the
model to determine the number of facilities, which, as assumed, presents no information of
those numbers. This assumption ensures that humanitarian organizations would be able to
supply the needed number of water tanks without any excessive and unwanted costs.
The benefit of the model, as opposed to MCLP models, is that the number of facilities is
determined based on demand, which ensures the optimal number. Considering all the above,
the model formulation for the research is as follows:
Sets and parameters:
• I ¼ the set of demand objects {1, …, i, …, m};
• J ¼ the set of potential facility sites {1, …, j, …, n};
• S ¼ the service-covering standard of facility;
• dij ¼ the travel distance or time from potential facility site j to demand object i;
• Ji ¼ the set of potential facility sites j within the service-covering standard of which
demand object i lies, i.e., {j|dij ⩽ S};
• ai ¼ the amount of service demands at demand object i;
• p ¼ the total number of facilities; in this research the number of water storage tanks is
concerned;
• c ¼ the capacity of one water storage tank (assuming all have the same capacity);
• w ¼ the weight associated with all the uncovered allocated demands; and
• M ¼ very large number.
 Decision variables: Logistics
• Xj ¼ the number of water storage tanks stationed at potential facility site j; a facility system for
is located on site j when xj W0; and drinking water
• Yij ¼ the percentage of demands at demand object i that is allocated to the facility distribution
on site j.
Maximize:
XX XX X
Z¼ ai Y ij w d ij ai Y ij M xj : (1)
i A I j A Ji i A I j2
= Ji jAJ

Subject to:
X
ai Y ij p cX j ; 8j A J ; (2)
iAI
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

X
Y ij p1; 8i A I ; (3)
jAJ

0 pY ij p1; 8i AI : (4)
The objective function (Equation (1)) seeks to maximize the amount of the covered allocated
demands, while simultaneously minimizing the total distance between the uncovered
allocated demands and the sites to which they are assigned, as well as optimizing the
number of tanks to be located. In this function, the weight w⩾0 can be varied to adjust the
preference on each objective. The first constraint (Equation (2)) ensures that all demands
allocated to any facility cannot exceed the maximum capacity of that facility, if no facility
(i.e. no water storage tanks) is located on a site, no demand will be allocated to that site.
The second constraint (Equation (3)) ensures that all demands at each demand object will be
allocated to a facility, while the third constraint (Equation (4)) indicates that the decision
variable Xj is a non-negative integer. In addition, the last constraint restricts the continuous
decision variable Yij, which ranges from 0 to 1.
According to Haghani (1996), to ensure maximization of the covered allocated demands,
which is the primary objective, the weight “w” must meet the following condition when
assuming integer demands:
1
0 pwp ; (5)
Aðd max dmin Þ
where A is the total demands, and dmax and dmin are the maximum and minimum distances,
respectively, between any pairs of demand object i and potential facility site j.
The factor M is important because it directly affects the objective function, as well as the
number of tanks, since it is connected to Xj in the objective function. The value of this factor
must be calculated to avoid the negativity value of the objective function, and to determine
the optimal number of tanks. The covering distance s is the maximum distance the facility
can provide service within. The value of s indirectly affects the number of facilities needed;
when s increases, the number of facilities decreases since the facilities would cover larger
distances efficiently reducing the need for any extra facility. On the contrary, when it
decreases, the number of facilities increases; in this case, more facilities are needed to cover
the demand. The value of parameter s is selected to be suitable for walking distances, as
people walk to get their drinking water. Additionally, in disastrous areas, walking should
 JHLSCM occur within secured areas, which might not be always available. According to this,
assigning the demand point to a facility is selected based on how long the people can walk
safely to get their needs from water. This is surly happened with some dependency on value
demand and supply.
MCMCLP was proposed by Yin and Mu (2012) to solve the set covering problem of
locating the emergency vehicles, whereas the MCLP–ONF is developed in this research to
solve the problem of locating water tanks and determining the number of tanks to be located
in case of disasters. One
P of the important additions for MCLP–ONF is the third term in the
objective function (M j A J xj ), which is missing in the MCMCLP model. This term functions
to minimize the number of tanks which is important in case of disaster, as the number of
available or donated tanks is limited and increasing the number of installed tanks will
acquire more security issues. Additionally, the number of vehicles (P) in MCMCLP model is
predetermined, which is not applicable in case of disaster management. Whereas, in
MCLP–ONF model, the resources are assumed to be limited during the humanitarian relief,
so, determining the number of tanks is achieved by the solving the model to provide the
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

minimum number of tanks with best possible service, i.e., maximum water delivery.
For the same issue, the MCMCLP model has a constraint that forces the whole demand to be
satisfied (sum of yij ¼ 1 for all i), which is absolutely not applicable in disaster regions.
In such areas, the total demand exceeds the total supply (Al Theeb and Murray, 2017;
Barzinpour and Esmaeili, 2014; Baba, 2014). Accordingly, the MCLP–ONF model treats this
issue by enforcing the maximum demand delivery by allowing the possibility of not
satisfying the whole demand in case of supply shortage.
The proposed model provides feasible solution even if the demand exceeds supply, as the
constraints in Equation (3) is less than or equal to 1. However, in case of demand exceeding
the suppliers, the model provides results with whole available supply is delivered, as the
objective function is to maximize the delivery, but with some unsatisfied demand.
Furthermore, even the existence of unsatisfied demand, the distribution is achieved with
high level of fairness
P P and justice, as the objective function includes the maximization of each
node delivery ( i A I j A J i ai Y ij ).
If the supply is greater than the requested demand, the model will give a suitable number
of tanks for each district (node) to be sufficient for all people in each node. However, in other
case, if the demand exceeds supply, the number of tanks in each node is sufficient for the
portion of requested demand. In this case, it is responsibility of agencies work in these areas
to ensure an equate distribution of water among people. Some discussion is added to clarify
this point.
In the case that the minimum number of facilities needed to fulfill the total demand is not
available, the demand value has to be reduced in a certain percentage to cope with the
reduction of the facilities. For example, if the ONF is 5 and the available number is only 4,
according to the model, this solution is infeasible. Therefore, the demand value, that is fed
into the model, must be reduced to cope with this number to ensure that the model still gives
a feasible solution to the problem and works as expected.
MCLP–ONF has been validated through small-scale problems, which include three
facility sites and eight demand locations. Hence, it contains 39 constraints, 3 integer
variables and 25 continuous variables. It was solved by using CPLEX–OPL and it obtained
correct results.

3.3 A control policy

A control policy is essential in emergencies to ensure that the distributed drinking water will
be fairly delivered to all refugees, and also to ensure that the water source is protected from
any theft. The control policy is greatly needed where the situation is not stable and chaotic.
A control policy can be implemented by first distribute water containers to every refugee
 family in the camp. Then, each family in a refugee camp must have an ID card, especially Logistics
when trying to access water distribution points, this card must contain basic information of system for
the user and their daily share of water. Thereafter, there should be a checkpoint with drinking water
qualified persons who work on organizing the process of distributing water to refugees and
collecting their cards, as well as ensuring that refugees are only accessing their share of distribution
water without any excess shares. Finally, there must be a fixed schedule for when refugees
can access water distribution points, which in turn will give time to persons in charge to
maintain an organized system that keeps the track of water quantities stored, and refugees
who have or have not accessed their daily share of water.

4. Methodology implementation (Al-Za’atari camp)

More than six years have passed since the Syrian crisis broke out and the Syrian refugee
situation began. Jordan is one of the countries in Middle East region that opened its doors to
the large numbers of refugees. The current estimated official number is approximately 1.4m,
with about 15 percent living in refugee camps while the majority of these refugees live in
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

host communities. However, there are several camps across the country. Al-Za’atari is
currently the biggest refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan ( Jordan Center for Strategic
Studies, 2014).
Meeting the needs of Syrian refugees is a great challenge for the Jordanian Government,
as well as to the international organizations involved, not only due to the shortage of
funding but also to the highly demanding levels of organization needed to handle this crisis
( Jordan Center for Strategic Studies, 2014). Al-Za’atari camp is a refugee camp in Jordan,
located 70 km northeast of Amman, which is gradually developing into a permanent
settlement. It was first opened on July 28, 2012 to host Syrians fleeing the violence of the
ongoing Syrian civil war that erupted in 2011 (Kimmelman, 2014). Al-Za’atari has developed
from an empty desert expanse into a home for roughly 100,000 people with an area of
5.2 km2 (UNHCR, 2014). In an attempt to have the camp organized as a city, Al-Za’atari was
divided into 12 districts each with a different population density. In this study, the main
emphasis is on the short-term response, more specifically on the Al-Za’atari camp during
its first six months, July 2012 to the end of 2012, with a population of 30,700 refugees
(UNHCR, 2016).

4.1 Implementation of phase one

In this phase, the quantity of water to be supplied to the camp is determined, as well as
determining the proper method to supply this water to refugee camps in the short term
considering four possible options: tanker trucks, ground water, ground water–pipelines and
ground water–tanker trucks. The best method to supply water can be determined based on
the method with the least costs and minimum risks. According to UNHCR (1992), the
minimum share of drinking water for each person is 3 l per day. For Al-Za’atari camp in the
considered short-term period, the quantity needed daily to cover the drinking needs of a
population of 30,700 people is 92,100 l (92.1 m3).
The surveys were distributed to experts from Agence d’Aide à la coopération technique
et au développement (ACTED) organization, who have experience in water transportation
and distribution in Al-Za’atari refugee camp. In addition, experts from Irbid water authority
and Yarmouk Water Company were involved in this study. Each expert was asked to
provide judgments based on personal knowledge and on the expertise of risk factors related
to water transportation in Jordan.
According to the results of the survey, risk experts agreed that the most important factor
is unclean water and inadequate water. In other words, it is a high risk to the transport
unclean water and inadequate quantifies of water. These two criteria are considered in the
following step to evaluate the risk factors related to water transportation in post-disaster
 JHLSCM humanitarian relief. To evaluate the risk factors in the first survey, experts were asked to set
RPN for each risk factor. The result of the risk survey showed that unclean water and
inadequate water factors are the ones with the highest RPN, thus emphasizing the result
that has been concluded earlier in the first survey. As for unclean water factor, risk experts
agreed that transporting water using ground water–tanker truck method pollutes water the
most, followed by transporting water using tanker trucks, while transporting water using
ground water–pipelines is the least polluting method. Therefore, the best method to
transport water is by using ground water–pipelines, because it scored the lowest among all
proposed methods with regard to risk factors in this study.
As for the inadequate water quantities factor, the source of water is the main key to
determine the quantities and not the method of transportation. When using tanker trucks,
the source is underdetermined as opposed to using ground water, which is clearly an
identifiable source. For cost factor, Table I lists the cost of transporting water for the
proposed methods in Jordan.
Ordering methods from most efficient to least efficient based on cost and risk factors is
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

as follows: the ground water – pipeline method; ground water; and water tanker–trucks.
According to data from Al-Za’atari camp, using tanker trucks to transport water from
external sources into the camp is the current used method.

4.2 Implementation of phase 2

In this phase, the MCLP–ONF model will optimize the minimum number of water storage
tanks Xj and will optimize the coverage of water tanks making sure that water tanks can
distribute to all refugees efficiently. The clustering techniques that mentioned earlier in
chapter 3 will not be necessary in this case, due to the camp topology and the division of
the camp into 12 districts in a way that each district contains people with almost the same
background and interest. Grouping people in this way avoids any inconvenience, facilitate
the communication among them and ensure that water distributed to them in an organized
way, which is the main purpose of clustering.
The capacity of the storage tanks in Jordan varies between 1,000 l to more than 90,000 l.
It might be difficult to provide the camp with water tanks with large capacity within a very
short period. Tanks with capacity of 20,000 l are considered is the case studied; it is the
largest capacity that can be provided in Jordan according to Irbid water authority.
The population density of each district of the camp determines the daily demand for each
district; by multiplying the population density by 3 l, which is the minimum share for each
person daily as mentioned earlier. Table II lists the population of each district as well as the
daily demand of drinking water.
The distances needed for this research dij are measured in kilometers using Google maps,
presenting data that show maximum distance taken, the largest distance between two
districts and the furthest distance one would walk to access water. These distances are used
to conduct the distance matrix. Where the maximum distance is 3.31 km and the minimum
is 0.56 km.
According to Equation (5), the value of weight w should be within the range
[zero − 3.98 × 10−4] to ensure the maximization of the covered allocated demands. In fact, as

Method of transportation Cost/m3 ( Jd)

Table I. Using ground water–pipelines 0.3

Costs obtained from Using ground water 0.55
experts for each water Using ground water–tanker trucks 1.1
transportation method Using tanker trucks 4
 District number Population Drinking water demand (liters/day)
Logistics
system for
1 4,282 12,846 drinking water
2 5,002 15,006
3 2,767 8,301 distribution
4 1,957 5,871
5 552 1,656
6 1,996 5,988
7 912 2,736
8 835 2,505
9 2,064 6,192 Table II.
10 3,349 10,047 Population and
11 4,191 12,573 demand for
12 2,793 8,379 each district
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

long as the value of weight w falls in this range and does not equal 0, the solutions will be the
same, irrespective of the weight w. Therefore, we set w ¼ 1 × 10−4 for the MCLP–ONF model.
As the capacity c, weight w, distances dij and demand ai are determined, two factors
are still in need of evaluation; M and the covering distance s, those two factors affect the
objective function directly and they control the number of water tanks. Thus, they must be
estimated carefully.
The model was solved using CPLEX to find the optimal solution. The model was run for
multiple iteration with c ¼ 20,000, w ¼ 0.001 and with different values for M and s, as shown
in Table III. Using trial and error method, 18,420 was found as the maximum value for M, at
this value the value of objective function equals 0. Thus, choosing M smaller than 18,420 is
necessary in the model to avoid the negativity value of the objective function.
The process paired different values of s while holding values of m constant and vice versa
as shown in Table III, after running CPLEX with different pairs of M and S values, as both m
and s control the number of tanks, the result indicates that a minimum number of five tanks
are needed. The optimal values for s and m are 2 and 10, respectively. The run time is 0.312 s.
The solutions obtained from CPLEX were finally visualized in Figure 1, which shows the
optimal locations of water tanks in the camp as well as the percentage of coverage by those
tanks. Every district is covered 100 percent based on their proximity to the water tank.
Five tanks are the optimal number to cover all the demand in the camp. In case, the number
of tanks is not optimal, the model will distribute water evenly to all districts accommodating
the reduction of the number of water tanks; the model will relocate the tanks into new optimal
points that would serve the camp evenly. However, the demand value will be reduced due to
the reduction in the numbers of water tanks. For example, if the number of tanks falls short by
one, then the supply of water will drop from 92,100 to 80,000 l. Figure 2 shows the result of
running the model with four tanks and with M ¼ 100, s ¼ 2.2.
If the demand was measured weekly rather than daily, the model will still be effective;
however, it will present different results, e.g., in a weekly schedule, the optimal number of
tanks as solved by CPLEX would be 36, which is a large number. In this case, the refill rate
should be considered.

4.3 A control policy

The following steps can be taken to implement control policy in Al-Za’atari Camp:
(1) Distribute water containers to every refugee family in the camp.
(2) Give each family in the camp an ID card; this card must contain basic information of
the user and their daily share of water.
 JHLSCM
Number of runs M s Results of Xj Objective function value

1 0.1 0.9 5 facilities at each site total of 60 92,004

2 0.1 1 5 facilities at each site total of 60 92,004
3 0.1 1.5 5 facilities at each site total of 60 92,004
4 0.1 2 5 facilities at each site total of 60 92,004
5 0.1 3 5 facilities at each site total of 60 92,004
6 0.1 5 5 facilities at d1 only 92,099.5
7 0.1 10 5 facilities at d1 only 92,096
8 0.1 100 5 facilities at d1 only 92,099.5
9 1 0.9 12 facilities one at each district 92,088
10 1 1 12 facilities one at each district 92,088
11 1 1.5 8 facilities (2 at d2) and (1 at d3, d4, d5, d7, d8, d9) 92,092
12 1 1.6 8 facilities (2 at d2) and (1 at d5, d7, d8, d9, d11, d12) 92,092
13 1 1.8 8 facilities (1 at d1, d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d8, d9) 92,092
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

14 1 2 6 facilities (2 at d1) and (1 at d5, d6, d8, d10) 92,094

15 1 2.2 7 facilities (2 at d1) and (1 at d2, d8, d9, d11, d12) 92,093
16 1 2.5 6 facilities (2 at d8) and (1 at d1, d2, d6, d12) 92,094
17 1 2.6 7 facilities (2 at d8, d9) and (1 at d1, d3, d7) 92,093
18 1 2.7 7 facilities (3 at d5) and (1 at d2, d3, d7, d9) 92,094
19 1 2.8 7 facilities (2 at d7, d8) and (1 at d1, d2, d5) 92,093
20 1 3 6 facilities (3 at d8) and (1 at d4, d5, d6) 92,094
21 1 3.2 6 facilities (3 at d8) (2 at d1) and (1 at d5) 92,094
22 1 3.3 5 facilities at d6 92,095
23 1 3.5 5 facilities at d1 92,095
24 1 100 5 facilities at d1 92,095
25 10 2 5 facilities (1 at d1, d4, d5, d8, d10) 92,050
26 50 2 5 facilities (2 at d10) and (1 at d2, d5, d9) 91,850
27 100 2 5 facilities (2 at d10) and (1 at d2, d5, d9) 91,600
28 150 2 5 facilities (2 at d4) and (1 at d5, d8, d9) 91,350
29 5 2.5 5 facilities (1 at d1, d5, d6, d7, d10) 92,075
30 500 2.5 5 facilities (2 at d1) and (1 at d5, d6, d10) 89,600
Table III. 31 1,000 2.5 5 facilities (1 at d1, d2, d6, d8, d9) 87,100
Model sensitivity 32 10,000 2.5 5 facilities (1 at d1, d2, d6, d8, d9) 42,100
analysis M, s 33 10,000 3 5 facilities (2 at d8) and (1 at d1, d5, d6) 42,100
parameters 34 20,000 2.5 5 facilities (1 at d1, d5, d8, d9, d10) −7,900

(3) Set a checkpoint with qualified persons who work on organizing the process of
distributing water to refugees and collecting their cards, as well as ensuring that
refugees are only accessing their share of water without any excess shares.
(4) Set a fixed schedule for refugees to access water distribution points, which in turn
will give time to persons in charge to maintain an organized system that keeps track
of quantities water stored, and refugees who have or have not accessed their daily
share of water.
Applying control policy in Al-Za’atari camp might face many difficulties; as it might be
difficult to apply it in the first stages of disaster due to chaos, including identify each family
in the camp.

5. Conclusions and future research directions

This study aims to optimize the supply and distribution of drinking water into refugee
camps. It was conducted on two phases, in phase 1, the quantity of water supplied is
determined; based on the standards set by UNHCR. As well as the proper method to supply
 Logistics
system for
drinking water
distribution
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

Figure 1.
Result of locating
five tanks

Figure 2.
Result of locating four
tanks with M ¼ 100,
s ¼ 2.2

water to refugee camps was determined considering four possible options in the short term;
using tanker trucks, ground water, ground water–pipelines and ground water–tanker
trucks. The best option among them is the one that ensures the least cost and the least risk.
Phase 2 is concerned with water distribution inside a camp using a modified set covering
model. In addition, a control policy is proposed to ensure the fair distribution of water to
all people.
 JHLSCM 5.1 Conclusions
As a conclusion of this study, the most important criteria in transporting water to refugee
camps, based on risk assessment, are unclean water and inadequate water. This result was
confirmed using RPN. As for the unclean water factor, risk experts agreed that transporting
water using ground water–tanker truck method pollutes water the most, followed
by transporting water using tanker trucks, while transporting water using ground
water–pipelines is the least polluting method. This entails that the best method to transport
water is by using ground water–pipelines, because it scored the lowest among all proposed
methods concerning risk factor in this study. Whereas for the inadequate water quantities
factor, the source of water is the main key to determine the quantities and not the method of
transportation. When using tanker trucks, the source is underdetermined as opposed to
using ground water, which is clearly an identifiable source. The results show that risk
experts concur that transporting water using tanker trucks and ground water provides
almost the same quantity of water, where the cheapest method to transport water is using
groundwater–pipelines, followed by using groundwater, and then using groundwater
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

tanker trucks. Finally, the most expensive method to transport water is using tanker trucks.
Clustering techniques are efficient in grouping instances based on a certain criterion,
using these techniques help to distribute water efficiently. In our case, there was no need for
clustering techniques as the camp was already divided into districts in a reasonable manner.
The model developed in this study work on distributing water into refugee camp effectively;
it determines the minimum number of water tanks, the optimal locations of those tanks
and the allocation of all the demand to ensure that the water is distributed evenly.
The MCLP–ONF model is an extension of MCLP models, where the capacity constraint is
considered as well as allocation of demands to facilities. With an extra objective that
determines the optimal number of water tanks based on the available demand. Al-Za’atari
Refugee Camp is selected to be the case study for the research. After applying the model, it
shows impressive results for distributing water throughout the camp.

5.2 Future research

Many research topics can be performed in future. Some of these topics are directly related to
this work, such as studying transporting water in the long term in more details rather than
concentrating is short-term distribution, pursuing a different clustering techniques to
explore more solutions, investigating the capability of the methods to work in times of
humanitarian crisis and making some modifications to the MCLP–ONF model, by changing
the capacity to be a constraint not an input.
On the other hand, some new works can be created in this field. First, in this work,
demand for drinking water is considered constant. However, in many real-life cases,
demand is stochastic. Thus, this work can be extended by adopting a stochastic model to
deal with such cases. Second, similar to the first point, demand could be random with
unknown distribution. In such cases, stochastic modeling is invalid. Instead, robust
optimization can be used to overcome the problems associated with such cases. Third,
water distribution is not the only issue in humanitarian relief operations, the distribution
of medications and food is also important. Accordingly, this work can be repeated for the
distribution of medications and food in all cases: constant, stochastic and random demand.
Fourth, Al-Za’atari Refugee Camp is not the only camp in Jordan, this provides a potential
research work in other places by taking in the considerations the specific implication in
each place. Finally, this work concentrates on water distribution after the disasters
happen; other important field in disaster management is to make pre-plans for water, food
and medications distribution based on some expectations. This includes determining the
possible places for installation the tanks and install some of them, identifying the places of
shelters, expecting the amount of supplies needed, etc.
 References Logistics
Al Theeb, N. and Murray, C. (2017), “Vehicle routing and resource distribution in postdisaster humanitarian system for
relief operations”, International Transactions in Operational Research, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 1253-1284. drinking water
Ali, S., Ali, S. and Fesselet, J. (2015), “Effectiveness of emergency water treatment practices in refugee distribution
camps in South Sudan”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Vol. 93 No. 8, pp. 550-558.
Anderberg, M. (1973), Cluster Analysis for Applications, Academic Press, New York, NY.
Baba, H. (2014), “Introductory study on disaster risk assessment and area business continuity planning
in industry agglomerated areas in the ASEAN”, IDRiM Journal, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 184-195.
Balcik, B. and Beamon, B. (2008), “Facility location in humanitarian relief”, International Journal of
Logistics Research and Applications, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 101-121.
Balcik, B., Beamon, B. and Smilowitz, K. (2008), “Last mile distribution in humanitarian relief”, Journal
of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 51-63.
Barbarosoglu, G. and Arda, Y. (2004), “A two-stage stochastic programming framework for
transportation planning in disaster response”, Journal of the Operational Research Society,
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

Vol. 55 No. 1, pp. 43-53.

Barzinpour, F. and Esmaeili, V. (2014), “A multi-objective relief chain location distribution model for
urban disaster management”, The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, Vol. 70 No. 5, pp. 1291-1302.
Berkoune, D., Renaud, J., Rekik, M. and Ruiz, A. (2012), “Transportation in disaster response
operations”, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 23-32.
Bozorgi-Amiri, A., Jabalameli, M., Alinaghia, M. and Heydari, M. (2012), “A modified particle swarm
optimization for disaster relief logistics under uncertain environment”, The International Journal
of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 60 No. 1, pp. 357-371.
Butler, E., Silva, A., Horton, K., Rom, Z., Chwatko, M., Havasov, A. and McCutcheon, J. (2013), “Point of
use water treatment with forward osmosis for emergency relief”, Desalination, Vol. 312, pp. 23-30.
Byman, D. (2002), Keeping the Peace, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Camacho-Vallejo, J., Gonzlez-Rodrguez, E., Almaguer, F. and Gonzlez-Ramrez, R. (2015), “A bi-level
optimization model for aid distribution after the occurrence of a disaster”, Journal of Cleaner
Production, Vol. 105, pp. 134-145.
Caunhye, A., Nie, X. and Pokharel, S. (2012), “Optimization models in emergency logistics: a literature
review”, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 4-13.
Chung, C., Schilling, D. and Carbone, R. (1983), “The capacitated maximal covering problem: a
heuristic”, Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Modeling and
Simulation 1983, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, pp. 1423-1428.
Church, R. and ReVelle, C. (1974), “The maximal covering location problem”, Papers of the Regional
Science Association, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 101-118.
Cozzolino, A., Rossi, S. and Conforti, A. (2012), “Agile and lean principles in the humanitarian supply
chain”, Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 16-33.
Current, J. and Storbeck, J. (1988), “Capacitated covering models”, Environment and Planning B:
Planning and Design, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 153-163.
De Angelis, V., Mecoli, M., Nikoi, C. and Storchi, G. (2007), “Multiperiod integrated routing and
scheduling of world food programme cargo planes in Angola”, Computers & Operations
Research, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 1601-1615.
Dos Anjos, N. (1998), “Source book of alternative technologies for freshwater augmentation in Latin America
and the Caribbean”, International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 365-398.
Ergun, O., Karakus, G., Keskinocak, P., Swann, J. and Villarreal, M. (2010), “Operations research to
improve disaster supply chain management”, in Cochran, J., Anthony Cox, L., Keskinocak, P.,
Kharoufeh, J. and Smith, J. (Eds), Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management
Science, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
 JHLSCM Falasca, M. and Zobel, C. (2011), “A two stage procurement model for humanitarian relief supply chains”,
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 151-169.
Fraley, C. and Raftery, A.E. (1998), “How many clusters? Which clustering method? Answers via
model-based cluster analysis”, The Computer Journal, Vol. 41 No. 8, pp. 578-588.
Haghani, A. (1996), “Capacitated maximum covering location models: formulations and solution
procedures”, Journal of Advanced Transportation, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 101-136.
Hamedi, M., Haghani, A. and Yang, S. (2012), “Reliable transportation of humanitarian supplies in disaster
response: model and heuristic”, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 54, pp. 1205-1219.
Hong, J.-D., Jeong, K.-Y. and Feng, K. (2015), “Emergency relief supply chain design and trade-off analysis”,
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 162-187.
Illinois Government (2011), Short-term Recovery Strategy, Illinois Government, Chicago, IL, p. 1.
Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute (2010), The “Phases” of Emergency Management,
Malcolm E. Baird, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, p. 1.
Jahre, M., Kembro, J., Adjahossou, A. and Altay, N. (2018), “Approaches to the design of refugee camps:
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

an empirical study in Kenya, Ethiopia, Greece, and Turkey”, Journal of Humanitarian Logistics
and Supply Chain Management, available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-07-2017-0034
Jordan Center for Strategic Studies (2014), “A review of the response to Syrian refugees in Jordan”,
available at: www.jcss.org/Photos/635520970736179906.pdf (accessed May 9, 2016).
Kimmelman, M. (2014), “Refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan evolves as a do-it-yourself city”, The New
York Times, July 4, available at: www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/world/middleeast/Za’atari-
refugee-camp-in-jordan-evolves-as-a-do-it-yourself-city.html (accessed May 9, 2016).
Knott, R. (1988), “Vehicle scheduling for emergency relief management: a knowledge-based approach”,
Disasters, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 285-293.
Kovács, G. and Spens, K.M. (2007), “Humanitarian logistics in disaster relief operations”, International
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 99-114.
Lee, H.W. and Zbinden, M. (2003), “Marrying logistics and technology for effective relief”, Forced
Migration Review, Vol. 18, pp. 34-35.
Liao, K. and Guo, D. (2008), “A clustering-based approach to the capacitated facility location problem”,
Transactions in GIS, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 323-339.
Loo, S., Fane, A., Krantz, W. and Lim, T. (2012), “Emergency water supply: a review of potential
technologies and selection criteria”, Water Research, Vol. 46 No. 10, pp. 3125-3151.
Maimon, O. and Rokach, L. (2005), Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Handbook, Springer,
New York, NY.
Mete, H. and Zabinsky, Z. (2010), “Stochastic optimization of medical supply location and distribution
in disaster management”, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 126 No. 1,
pp. 76-84.
Murray, A. and Gerrard, R. (1997), “Capacitated service and regional constraints in location-allocation
modeling”, Location Science, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 103-118.
Naji-Azimi, Z., Renaud, J., Ruiz, A. and Salari, M. (2012), “A covering tour approach to the location of
satellite distribution centers to supply humanitarian aid”, European Journal of Operational
Research, Vol. 222 No. 3, pp. 596-605.
Nolz, P., Doerner, K. and Hartl, R. (2010), “Water distribution in disaster relief”, Physical Distribution &
Logistics Management, Vol. 40 No. 8, pp. 693-708.
Oh, S.-C. and Haghani, A. (1997), “Testing and evaluation of a multi-commodity multi-modal network
flow model for disaster relief management”, Journal of Advanced Transportation, Vol. 31 No. 3,
pp. 249-282.
Owusu-Kwateng, K., Abdul Hamid, M. and Debrah, B. (2017), “Disaster relief logistics operation: an
insight from Ghana”, International Journal of Emergency Services, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 4-13.
 Özdamar, L., Ekinci, E. and Küçükyazici, B. (2004), “Emergency logistics planning in natural disasters”, Logistics
Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 129 Nos 1-4, pp. 217-245. system for
Paul, J. and Wang, X. (2015), “Robust optimization for United States department of agriculture food aid drinking water
bid allocations”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 82,
pp. 129-146. distribution
Pirkul, H. and Schilling, D. (1991), “The maximal covering location problem with capacities on total
workload”, Management Science, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 233-248.
Rajagopalan, H., Saydam, C. and Xiao, J. (2008), “A multiperiod set covering location model for dynamic
redeployment of ambulances”, Computers & Operations Research, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 814-826.
Rancourt, M., Bellavance, F. and Goentzel, J. (2014), “Market analysis and transportation procurement
for food aid in Ethiopia”, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 198-219.
Rancourt, M., Cordeau, J., Laporte, G. and Watkins, B. (2015), “Tactical network planning for food aid
distribution in Kenya”, Computers & Operations Research, Vol. 56, pp. 68-83.
Safeer, M., Anbuudayasankar, S., Balkumar, K. and Ganesh, K. (2014), “Analyzing transportation and
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

distribution in emergency humanitarian logistics”, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 97, pp. 2248-2258.
Schilling, D., Jayaraman, V. and Barkhi, R. (1993), “A review of covering problems in facility location”,
Location Science, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 25-55.
Thomas, A.S. and Kopczak, L.R. (2005), “From logistics to supply chain management: the path forward
in the humanitarian sector”, available at: www.fritzinstitute.org/pdfs/whitepaper/
fromlogisticsto.pdf (accessed February 12, 2016).
Tomaszewski, B., Mohamad, F. and Hamad, Y. (2015), “Refugee situation awareness: camps and
beyond”, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 107, pp. 41-53.
UNICEF (2015), “UNICEF – Jordan – home page”, United Nations International Children’s Emergency
Fund, Amman, available at: www.unicef.org (accessed October 11, 2015).
United Nations (1992), Glossary: Internationally Agreed Glossary of Basic Terms Related to Disaster
Management, UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, Geneva.
UNHCR (1992), “1992 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees, available at: www.unhcr.org/excom/unhcrannual/3ae68c860/
report-united-nations-high-commissioner-refugees-1992.html (accessed September 17, 2018).
UNHCR (2014), “UNHCR global report 2014”, Untied Nation for High Commissioner for Refugees,
available at: www.unhcr.org/55af8d699.pdf (accessed October 5, 2015).
UNHCR (2016), “The global report”, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, available at:
http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/gr2016/pdf/Book_GR_2016_ENGLISH_complete.
pdf (accessed September 17, 2018).
Van Wassenhove, L. (2005), “Humanitarian aid logistics: supply chain management in high gear”,
Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 57 No. 5, pp. 475-489.
Wendt, L., Hilberg, S., Robl, J., Braun, A., Rogenhofer, E., Dirnberger, D., Strasser, T., Freder, P. and
Lang, S. (2015), “Using remote sensing and GIS to support drinking water supply in refugee/IDP
camps”, GI Forum, Vol. 1, pp. 449-458.
Yin, P. and Mu, L. (2012), “Modular capacitated maximal covering location problem for the optimal
siting of emergency vehicles”, Applied Geography, Vol. 34, pp. 247-254.

Further reading
Agudelo-Vera, C., Blokker, M., Vreeburg, J., Bongard, T., Hillegers, S. and van der Hoek, J. (2014),
“Robustness of the drinking water distribution network under changing future demand”,
Procedia Engineering, Vol. 89, pp. 339-346.
Bai, R., Xue, N., Chen, J. and Roberts, G. (2015), “A set-covering model for a bidirectional multi-shift full
truckload vehicle routing problem”, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Vol. 79,
pp. 134-148.
 JHLSCM Di Palma, P., Romano, E., Corazza, A., Duro, A., Campopiano, F., Vacca, G. and Preziosi, E. (2014), “Best
practices protocol for drinking water supply contamination emergencies”, Procedia Engineering,
Vol. 70, pp. 535-544.
Gama, M., Lanfranchi, E., Pan, Q. and Jonoski, A. (2015), “Water distribution network model building,
case study: Milano, Italy”, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 119, pp. 573-582.
National VOAD (2016), “National voluntary organizations active in disaster”, available at: www.nvoad.org/
(accessed March 2, 2016).
REACH (2015), “Al-Za’atari camp population count”, available at: http://reachjor.github.io/pop_count/
index (accessed March 27, 2015).
Saaty, T. (1977), “A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures”, Journal of Mathematical
Psychology, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 234-281.
Zhe, X., Jie, Y., Huaqiang, C., Yaguang, K. and Bishi, H. (2015), “Water distribution network modeling
based on NARX”, IFAC – PapersOnLine, Vol. 48 No. 11, pp. 72-77.

Corresponding author
Downloaded by 87.236.232.131 At 01:07 30 September 2018 (PT)

Hazem Smadi can be contacted at: hjsmadi@just.edu.jo

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

View publication stats