A decision-making method for uncertain matching between volunteer teams and rescue tasks

Abstract Many types of major disasters occur around the world, and optimizing the coordination between volunteer teams and rescue tasks is necessary. In order to motivate volunteers, we studied the issue of dispatching the volunteers from the perspective of two-sided matching. Currently, the preference of information for alternatives provided by matching agents is uncertain. Therefore, in this study, an evidential reasoning-based approach is developed to solve uncertain matching problems between volunteer teams and rescue tasks. This approach not only considers the needs of the rescue task but also respects the individual choices of the volunteers. Furthermore, it can solve the problem of aggregating uncertain matching information while avoiding the subjective determination of a two-sided matching satisfaction function. The proposed approach is illustrated through a case study focused on the storm surge disaster relief in a coastal area in China. The rationality and effectiveness of the approach is validated through comparisons and analysis of the experimental results.