With the widespread, costly, and deadly damage that can occur during natural disasters, including floods, fires, earthquakes, and other events, it is important that responses to these events are quick and executed efficiently, keeping cost and resource optimization in mind. This way, resources aren't wasted in areas that don't need them. And, if that were to happen, other high-demand sectors would suffer. Considering the extent of damage and displacement of local populations that occurs, planning and deployment of nearby resources must address these concerns. If done inadequately, poor planning can actually go against your goals and cause failures that compromise millions of assets and also put many people in danger. Take, for example, FEMA's legendary failure in its response to Hurricane Katrina. Yes, one of the main reasons FEMA failed was its inability to gather resources and knowledge, but it also lacked the ability to mobilize its own resources (while Walmart could do both successfully) (Horwitz 1). Using a dynamic programming approach to distribute resources to specific areas based on what is available could greatly improve the effectiveness of a response plan. It may seem simple; if a resource was needed in an area, then it should be sent there. However, there are millions of ways to deploy a resource to achieve optimal value, and the optimal value changes based on the set of decisions made. In a computer system, it will take too long to calculate all the combinations in order to find the optimal resource allocation combination that can both save lives/assets and reduce costs. To begin with, it is important to explain the concept of a dynamic optimization...... half of the paper ......to coordinate your supplier networks with known information about the state of a disaster in certain regions. Works Cited Horwitz, Steven. “FEMA lacks the local knowledge necessary for effective relief.” Mercatus Center: George Mason University. Mercatus Center, November 1, 2013. Web. November 28, 2013. .Su, Xiaohui et al. The study on the optimal model for allocating relief resources using dynamic programming and spatial analysis methods. Rep. GiScience/People's Republic of China, nd Web. 27 November 2013. giscience2012_paper_184.pdf>. Wiitala, Marc R. “A Dynamic Programming Approach to Determine Optimal Responses to Initial Forest Fire Attack.” Fire economics, planning and policy: conclusions (1999): 115-123.