NYU’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness & Response has been developing an agent-based disaster simulation model.
The tool is called Planning with Large Agent-Networks against Catastrophes (PLAN C). According to its web site, PLAN C is designed to help “emergency managers, urban planners and public health officials to prepare and evaluate Pareto-optimal plans to respond to urban catastrophic situations.”
The Pareto-optimal part of the description refers to its ability to search for plans that optimize multiple objectives, including the number of casualties, economic impact, and time to recovery. “In this context, planning can be seen as the problem of adjusting the controllable parameters in the interaction between different classes of agents (hospitals, persons, on-site responders, ambulances, etc.) and available resources, in order to moderate the negative consequences of a catastrophic event.”
The 40-page information package available online contains an overview brochure and copies of their publications, including applications to scenarios such as a sarin release, food poisoning, and a smallpox outbreak.
(Thanks to Rachel Abbey for the tip.)
