On the shortest path calculation time in the large-scale dynamic post-disaster environment

There are many metropolitan cities where serious disasters are expected. The disaster, especially if it is an earthquake, damages the roads structure. Thus, the shortest path between two points can be changed. Emergency vehicles, including ambulance, fireengine, police car, and technical aid, must get the temporary shortest path in real time to work effectively. The shortest path algorithm available in MATLAB, Dijkstra, is tested on two metropolitan cities of San Francisco and Tehran. The road systems of both cities are represented by high number of nodes and connecting arcs. The conclusion is that the algorithm is suitable for finding shortest path for emergency vehicles. However, it is too slow for being a subroutine of a solver for vehicle routing problem.