Group decision support for hazards planning and emergency management: a group analytic network process approach

Advances in the Group Analytic Network Process (GANP) are discussed to support hazards planning and emergency management under incomplete information. A GANP multi-criteria Decision Support System (DSS) is put forth that uses quadratic mathematical programming and interval preference information. Civil defense and emergency managers use the proposed DSS in emergency exercise to select among evacuation and ‘shelter-in-place’ alternatives. It is shown that the proposed GANP architecture can improve decision-making transparency, emergency management effectiveness, and user satisfaction.