DHL and FedEx have announced the mobilisation of specialist teams and equipment to help out in theUS hurricane season, which from today has placed the country on alert for a possible 17 tropical
storms this year, up to five of which are expected to become “major hurricanes” by official weatherservices.DHL’s Disaster Response Team Americas is ready to provide emergency relief logistics support,the company said, comprising about 80 employees stationed throughout the United States, LatinAmerica and the Caribbean.
“The Americas’ DRT team is fully prepared to support relief efforts in communities affectedby hurricanes, tropical storms or other natural disasters, by using its logistics expertise inhelping to prevent bottlenecks of relief shipments at airports and facilitate the expeditiousdelivery of help and assistance to the affected areas,” said Dan Ludwig, DHL Americas’ senior vicepresident of humanitarian affairs and emergency management. In 2005, 15 hurricanes caused thedeath of more than 3,000 people in the region.
“In the past, we have seen the havoc that can occur from hurricanes such as Rita, Wilma, andKatrina – which devastated Caribbean countries and extensive areas in the south.eastern region ofthe US. The DRT, made up entirely of volunteers, is committed to leveraging DHL’s experience inmanaging airport logistics and the flow of relief shipments, in order to expedite the timelydelivery of humanitarian aid,” Ludwig added.
DHL, which also has DRT units in Singapore and Dubai, has formed a strategic partnership withthe United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for the Coordinationof Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the area of disaster management.
FedEx, meanwhile, has donated five mobile feeding units to The Salvation Army’s fleet ofmobile canteen vehicles plus and contributed a grant to train Salvation Army emergency responsepersonnel in countries around the world.
The five mobile canteens will be based in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.Each vehicle is co-branded with the FedEx and Salvation Army logos and is equipped with the latestequipment and technology to assist disaster response personnel in reacting to emergencies thatcould include hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires or other scenarios.
The canteens can feed between 1,000 and 2,500 people per day and are fitted with new GPStracking devices that let commanders know their exact location at any given time.
As part of the gift, FedEx also contributed 1,800 disaster clean-up kits that include mops,brooms, sponges, gloves and cleaning solution.
