Optimized block assignment for disaster inspection problem using bat metaheuristics

Disasters are the major danger for people nowadays. They may attack in the form of earthquake, flood, cyclone, drought, tsunami, hailstorm and hurricane. The catastrophic events affect the critical infrastructures of the country. To analyze the condition of the affected areas following the disasters, careful inspection is needed. The inspection is to be done by many inspection squads. This paper aimed to perform optimal distribution and assignment of blocks among multiple inspection squads based on distance between the blocks, demand and damage factors. The assignment process is done by using Bat Optimization Metaheuristic Algorithm. This algorithm is a new Bio-inspired technique for solving NP-Hard Combinatorial Optimization problems. The computational results have shown the effectiveness of Bat Algorithm in solving optimal block assignment problem. This problem is tested with the real-time block information of Tirunelveli and Salem districts.