Research Team Uses Math To Help Allocate Resources During Natural Disasters

New research by a team led by an engineering professor at Northeastern University has found that a mathematical model can predict human movement during natural disasters.

The research team looked at events like the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Dorian, and the Kincade Wildfire to predict patterns of human movement and used anonymous information from 90 million Americans to create the mathematical model used during the study.

According to Qi Ryan Wang, an associate professor of environmental and civil engineering at Northeastern University, the findings from this research study can help governments and emergency responders properly allocate resources during a range of disasters.