OREANDA-NEWS. Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) Group has deployed their Disaster Response Team (DRT) in Kathmandu, Nepal, following the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has claimed thousands of lives to date in addition to those being severely injured. The international aid community is now gearing up to fly in urgently needed goods like technical equipment, water and food. DPDHL Group's DRT will provide logistics support to help manage the incoming international aid and handle the goods at Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport for further distribution by local and international organizations to those in need.

Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said: "The massive scale of destruction from the Nepal earthquake has hugely crippled infrastructure and damaged roads and local airports, posing a great logistical challenge towards relief efforts. It's a race against time to rescue those still captured in the debris as well as those in urgent need for critical assistance and amenities like medical help, food and water. The sudden influx of relief goods at Kathmandu airport challenges the local capacities to distribute these goods in a timely manner to reach beneficiaries. This is the specific logistics support that our DHL Disaster Response Team will provide at the airport. Our team comprises highly trained volunteers who provide logistical expertise to help coordinate the relief aid at the airport for further distribution to the victims in the speediest manner possible."
Cooperation with UNOCHA

A team of DRT volunteers consisting out of DHL employees from countries such as Bahrain, Belgium, Dubai, India, Malaysia and Singapore arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal on 27 April and are supported by Gagan Mukhia, Country Manager of DHL Express Nepal. The team will work with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to mobilize and coordinate humanitarian relief efforts in Nepal.

Chris Weeks, DHL Director for Humanitarian Affairs, said: "In the aftermath of a disaster airports can become bottlenecks that delay the distribution of emergency relief supplies. In these situations, logistics expertise can make a huge difference in coordinating the incoming supplies, and so save lives by ensuring a swift and organized handling of all aid. However, there is a high level of competency and preparedness in Nepal to deal with the aftermath as we had jointly conducted a "Get Airports Ready for Disaster" (GARD) program with local Nepalese authorities and the United Nations Development Program in 2010."

The GARD program was conducted in 2010 at five airports - TIA (Kathmandu), Nepalganj, Biratnagar, Simara and Pokhara.

Disaster management at Deutsche Post DHL Group

GoHelp is the disaster management program of Deutsche Post DHL Group and comprises the programs "Get Airports Ready for Disaster" (GARD) and natural disaster response via the Disaster Response Teams (DRTs). In a partnership with the United Nations since 2005, Deutsche Post DHL Group provides the UN with access to its core competence in logistics, its global network and the know-how of its employees free of charge. To date, GARD was implemented jointly with the United Nations Development Program to more than 25 local airports in countries like Armenia, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Nepal, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey and Sri Lanka.

In cooperation with UNOCHA, DPDHL Group also established a global network of Disaster Response Teams to support airports in case of a natural disaster. The DRT network consists of over 400 trained DHL volunteers, who can be deployed within 72 hours. Since 2005, the DRTs have been deployed over 30 times worldwide, with the most recent deployment to Vanuatu following the destruction caused by Cyclone Pam in March 2015.