FedEx was today flying relief supplies to Nepal along with the World Food Programme and many other airlines and aid organisations but Kathmandu Airport is apparently reaching a ‘overload’ situation that is causing a distribution bottleneck.
FedEx has teamed up with US-based Water Missions to fly two large “Living Water Treatment Systems,” six potable water chlorinators and two large water tanks to Nepal. Combined these systems will provide fresh water for up to 70,000 people per day.
In total, Water Missions is transporting 10 Living Water Treatment Systems and up to 20 chlorination devices to Nepal. The water treatment systems being installed by Water Missions will provide up to 250,000 people with safe water every day, the charity said.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme yesterday flew field hospitals, medical supplies and aid workers from the WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Malaysia to Kathmandu.
In addition to food distribution, as the lead of the humanitarian community’s Logistics Cluster, WFP is also providing logistics support for the entire aid operation in Nepal. It hopes to have two helicopters operational in the coming days to transport both humanitarian cargo and aid workers to the worst-affected areas.
At Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, WFP is operating a relief hub for the management and dispatch of the cargo flooding into the country. This Humanitarian Staging Area was opened last month as part of WFP’s emergency preparedness work with the government of Nepal, which has been focusing on preparing for such an emergency for several years now.
For its part, the DHL Disaster Response Team that arrived in Kathmandu earlier this week is currently in discussions with the airport, military officials and local authorities as well as UNOCHA and WFP on setting up an emergency logistics hub at the airport. “The DRT is still in the process of setting up,” a DP DHL spokeswoman confirmed to CEP-Research.
According to international media reports, Kathmandu Airport is turning into a logistics bottleneck. The small airport, with just one runway, has been overwhelmed by the number of incoming flights, and many planes have been forced to circle overhead for a long time before being able to land. In addition, aid officials have criticised slow offloading of relief goods.
"The airport is totally congested. Even the planes which have landed, goods haven't been offloaded," Jagan Chapagain, the Asia Pacific Director of the IFRC (International Federations of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) told CNN.
