Methods to Preserve Social Networks at Emergency Shelters

During large-scale disasters, social structures are disrupted. The current focus of emergency management is to ensure that people evacuate safely. Lost in the process is a mechanism for keeping existing social structures intact, despite substantial evidence that maintaining social structures during and after disasters is beneficial. Instead of displaced people self-assembling at emergency shelters, where the social composition may appear somewhat random, this research introduces algorithms incorporating graph and hypergraph partitioning to reunite displaced people with their friends, family, and communities within shelters without unduly prejudicing the speed and efficiency required during evacuations. The research further investigates how to achieve this result dynamically, by assessing real-time information flows and readjusting recommended shelter locations mid-evacuation, all the while maintaining social connections tailored for each individual.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Douglass, Nathaniel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bithell, Michael

• agent-based model
• centrality
• disaster
• displaced people
• emergency management
• emergency planning
• evacuation
• evacuee
• graph
• graph theory
• hypergraph
• mobility
• network science
• partitioner
• partitioning
• Red Cross
• refugee
• reunification
• shelter
• simulation
• social network
• social network analysis

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/4126039c-b99c-4df1-bf72-96f0391d3abe/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109171

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/369308