A DHL ‘typhoon aid hub’ has gone into operation at Cebu airport in the Philippines to handle reliefsupplies being flown in by governments and international aid organisations, including on FedEx
flights, for victims of last week’s devastating Typhoon Haiyan.International relief supplies are now flooding into the Philippines to help cope with theimpact of the typhoon. FedEx is flying in shipments of urgently needed supplies, including medicalsupplies and water purification equipment.
FedEx said it is working closely with disaster relief organisations Direct ReliefInternational, Water Missions International, and Heart to Heart International, and has alreadyshipped over 20,000 pounds of relief supplies to the Philippines on several flights. This included15,000 pounds (75 tonnes) of medical supplies from Direct Relief International and water treatmentsystems from Water Missions International. An additional flight full of medical aid and supplies isscheduled in the coming days.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA),some 11.8 million people have been affected and more than 920,000 are displaced. The region is indesperate need of water, food, medicine, shelter, hygiene and sanitation.
The DHL Disaster Response Team (DRT) is helping with on-the-ground logistics at Mactan CebuAirport on Cebu island, which lies next to Leyte island, most devastated by the typhoon. The DRTwill manage the logistics of inbound relief goods sent via air or sea by the internationalcommunity and help ensure the quick and constant flow of goods to the people in need.
DRT members, led by DHL’s humanitarian affairs director Chris Weeks, have set up a temporarywarehouse inside an airport gymnasium to store and sort relief goods. The DRT will handle incomingfreight, make a full inventory and ensure the speedy loading of the most critical supplies ontotrucks or helicopters.
Because roads are blocked or completely destroyed – and because regular access to the smallerislands is limited – the DRT has provided so-called DHL Speedballs, special bags with basic reliefgoods that can be dropped from helicopters. At the moment, Philippine airport staff are packing 300Speedballs a day to be distributed to the affected region.
“The situation in the Philippines, and in particular in Leyte province, is simplydevastating, and there is a critical need to provide food and water to the people affected asquickly as possible. Our Disaster Response Team is trained to provide logistics support to therelief effort at local airports following a natural disaster and we welcome this opportunity tocontribute our knowledge and skills now in the Philippines. We know that in the immediate aftermathof a disaster, regional airport logistics can very often encounter bottlenecks which delay thedelivery of life-sustaining relief supplies for victims. Here, we can make a difference with ourlogistics expertise at a crucial point in the relief effort and help to ensure swift and organisedhandling of all incoming materials,” said Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel.
Earlier this week, UPS pledged US$1 million in support for recovery efforts and said it isworking with the UN Global Logistics Cluster to coordinate relief efforts. TNT Express said it hadoffered local warehousing and ground transportation support. Both companies are part of the WFPLogistics Emergency Team (LET).
