Deutsche Post DHL has renewed its partnership with the United Nations Office for theCoordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) for another three years.
Rainer Wend, Executive Vice President Corporate Public Policy and Sustainability at DeutschePost DHL, commented: “Over the past five years, we have worked very successfully together in thefield of disaster management. The partnership with UN OCHA enables us to contribute our logisticsknow-how to help people in need, and we are very much looking forward to continue our cooperationfor another three years.”
In close cooperation with the United Nations, Deutsche Post DHL assists the local authorities ofaffected countries and the humanitarian relief organisation in the handling and storing of reliefcargo at airports in disaster regions. UN OCHA benefits from the logistics and warehousingexpertise by Deutsche Post DHL. On the other hand, the work of the “Disaster Response Teams” ofDeutsche Post DHL is integrated into humanitarian relief operations and thus benefits from theUnited Nations’ strong linkage to other actors of the international community responding todifficult disaster situations.
Deutsche Post DHL’s global “Disaster Response Teams (DRT)” network consists of three teams, eachof which is assigned to a specific geographic region covering Asia Pacific, Latin America/theCaribbean and the Middle East/Africa. Each team consists of about 80 specially trained DHLemployees, who have volunteered to take part in the pro-bono humanitarian efforts. In case of anemergency, volunteers can be deployed within 72 hours to a disaster hit region. During an averagestay of two to three weeks on the ground, the team of 10 at a time alternates to ensure the highestlevel of proficiency under very demanding circumstances.
Rashid Khalikov, Director of UN OCHA Geneva, said: “Their expertise, their professionalism andtheir dedication helped in many circumstances to ensure the flow of incoming relief materials, todecongest crowded or uncoordinated airports and to improve the flow of incoming in-kindcontributions and unsolicited donations.”
Over the past years, the DRT have been deployed almost 20 times to the airports of some 15disaster-hit countries, including Haiti, Guatemala, Chile, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar andPeru. The most recent operation took place during the severe floods that hit Pakistan in August2010. Thirty DHL employees from ten different countries volunteered to receive, sort and preparegoods delivered by international donors at Chaklala Airbase, Islamabad, for onward transportation.The team spent more than five weeks in Pakistan and handled over 4,500 tons of relief goods. Theyalso packed more than 2,500 DHL special bags with food and commodities. These were then dropped byhelicopter in remote and inaccessible areas.
The Disaster Response Teams are part of Deutsche Post DHL’s GoHelp programme which focuses ondisaster management. In its “Strategy 2015”, Deutsche Post DHL has defined sustainable economicactivity as one of the main points of the company’s future growth strategy.
One of OCHA’s strategic objectives is to strengthen relationships with a wider group ofoperational partners and other relevant actors to advance humanitarian action. This involves amongothers adapting coordination mechanisms to enable better dialogue and networking betweenhumanitarian organisations (UN and non-UN) and the private sector.
