Study on the multi-criteria location decision of wide-area distribution centers in pre-disaster: Case of an earthquake in the Kanto district of Japan

In this study, we focus on selecting distribution centers (DCs) in the pre-disaster period based on the case of an earthquake in the Kanto district of Japan. This research aims to achieve two objectives, (first) to define the importance of criteria that impact the selection of DCs by analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and (second) to rank existing private DCs and evaluate their location tendency and utilization based on weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) and k-means. The results show that the criteria of distance to the nearest highway, floor area, and built-up area are essential for selecting DCs. Furthermore, the top-ranked DCs are located in Kanagawa and Chiba. DCs located near airports and ports should be prioritized. However, for regions far from airports and ports, it is crucial to utilize DCs that are close to highways and have large areas.