Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) Group’s Disaster Response Team (DRT) will extend its logistics support activities at Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport until the end of May after another major quake caused further devastation in Nepal this week.
The DRT will continue to play a critical role in ensuring the Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport remains operational, DP DHL announced today. As the country’s only international airport in a landlocked country, the airport is the main gateway for the international aid community to send relief goods into Nepal.
The DRT was deployed less than 48 hours after the first earthquake struck on 25 April. The 18-strong team of volunteers from DHL, all logistics experts and trained in disaster management, were deployed in three waves and tasked with improving logistics operations at Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport for incoming relief supplies.
Over the last three weeks, the DRT has handled over 2,000 tons of incoming relief supplies, sorting and moving goods with limited equipment into centralised airside warehouses run by the United Nations World Food Programme for further distribution by international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The airport has one runway servicing both passenger and cargo aircraft, and can process nine planes at a time, with a 196 ton cargo weight restriction per plane. The airport’s capacity, coupled with a current lack of equipment and resources in the currently very demanding situation, are huge factors impacting the speed of delivery of relief goods to those in need.
Chris Weeks, Director for Humanitarian Affairs, DPDHL Group, said: “We are faced with recurring strong earthquakes – this indicates that relief efforts will have to continue for quite some time. The Disaster Response Team takes care of a crucial part in the relief effort chain.
“When we first arrived, we had a big job to do in cleaning up the congested tarmac area which was filled with relief supplies – this is critical in an emergency situation. If we hadn’t done this, it’s likely the airport would have closed within the first 48 hours of the earthquake because the airport would have run out of space and equipment, and NGOs would have been unable to locate their aid and relief goods. We implemented a system to maximise the use of limited resources for ongoing relief efforts. Working closely with the civil aviation authorities, local military, international aid organisations and the UN, we have clarity on the daily flights coming in. We also set up processes to meet the cargo at the airside to make the necessary arrangements in the fastest possible time.”
The DHL DRT volunteers used any available resources they had – from locally borrowed forklifts, tractors and makeshift dollies to UK-donated K-Loaders to speed up the logistics operations, ensuring that relief goods are delivered through vertical take-off US Osprey airplanes and even local tractors.
For nearly three weeks, DRT has been involved in coordinating the arrival and distribution of food, shelter, medicines and water including over three million high-energy biscuits from the United States of America’s Department of Agriculture, a 35-ton inflatable hospital from Medecin sans Frontieres, solar lamps, tools for rebuilding and plastic sheeting. The team also managed one chartered DHL plane carrying goods donated by sponsors from the Middle East.
Gagan Mukhia, Country Manager, DHL Express Nepal, said, “The generosity of people can literally be overwhelming in an emergency such as this and aid comes in many sizes and forms. Some of the huge air cargo pallets initially had to be dismantled before we could move them because there just wasn’t the equipment to unload them as a whole. With the latest earthquake on 12 May, we are still able to continue with our DRT operations as we now have the equipment and systems in place to deal with the ongoing relief effort that Nepal will desperately need for many months ahead. Planes can now be unloaded quickly and aid distributed more efficiently to the Nepalese community.”
Alex Marianelli, Senior Logistics Coordinator, Nepal Earthquake Response, World Food Programme, said: “With the recurring earthquakes experienced in Nepal, we are glad to have the logistics expertise of DHL on the ground at the Nepal airport to help with the mammoth task of managing the deluge of incoming relief aid. It is a tough and thankless job but an extremely critical one, as Nepal relies on the continued operations of its airport to receive aid from the international community. The speed and dedication of the DPDHL Group’s DRT is truly commendable.”
The DRT, which is activated by a request from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), has worked closely with the Nepalese authorities, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), numerous governments, aid agencies and NGOs.
In addition to the ongoing voluntary work of the Disaster Response Team, DHL’s Aid and Relief commercial service has moved over 100 tonnes of relief goods for organisations like ShelterBox and Norwegian Church Aid. Additionally, bookings for over 90 tonnes have already been received for the coming weeks.
