Disaster Response Teams
The Disaster Response Teams ( DRT , German disaster response teams ) are volunteer teams of experts from the transport and logistics service provider DHL who have been deployed worldwide after natural disasters since 2005 . The DRTs are active at the request of the United Nations and are part of the corporate responsibility program of Deutsche Post DHL .
Organization & way of working
The DRTs support the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and act at the request of the United Nations. DHL maintains a total of three teams based in Singapore , Panama and Dubai , they form a global network that covers 80 percent of the regions of the world hit by natural disasters.
Each Disaster Response Team is ready for action within 72 hours and consists of around 80 DHL employees who take part in missions on a voluntary basis. The duration of the assignment is usually two to three weeks, during which the employees take turns in twelve-hour shifts.
tasks
The disaster response teams are deployed at airports that are closest to the disaster areas. Their primary task is to avoid logistical bottlenecks at the airports and thereby support the rapid distribution of relief supplies. This area of responsibility mainly includes:
- Loading of incoming relief goods from aircraft onto standard pallets
- Organization of professional warehouse management
- Support for local NGOs with loading vehicles
background
DHL, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL, set up the DRTs to support OCHA in 2005 after DHL employees had participated in relief efforts for those affected by natural disasters in previous years. As early as 2003, during an earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam , DHL had the experience that airports in remote regions in particular are seldom able to logistically handle large quantities of incoming aid supplies after natural disasters: the administration of the airport there was after strong earthquakes neither equipped nor trained to handle the large quantities of relief supplies; the airport site was blocked within a very short time. A large logistics company like DHL, on the other hand, has the experience and expertise to deal with such problems. This led in December 2005 to sign a partnership agreement for disaster relief with the development program of the United Nations (United Nations Development Program, UNDP) and OCHA.
Previous missions
So far 37 DRT missions in 21 countries:
- April 2016: Earthquake in Ecuador
- October 2011: Floods in El Salvador
- February 2011: Earthquake in New Zealand
- August 2010: Floods in Pakistan
- May 2010: Tropical storm Agatha in Guatemala
- February 2010: Earthquake in Chile
- January 2010: Haiti earthquake
- October 2009: Earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia
- October 2009: Tsunami in Samoa
- October 2009: Typhoons Ketsana and Parma in the Philippines
- May to June 2008: Typhoon Nargis in Myanmar
- August 2007: Earthquake in Pisco, Peru
- December 2006: Typhoon Durian in the Philippines
- June 2006: Earthquake on Java island, Indonesia
- October 2005: Earthquake in Pakistan
- September 2005: Hurricane Katrina in the United States
- December 2004 - January 2005: Tsunami in Sri Lanka
- December 2003 - January 2004: earthquake in Bam, Iran
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Appel: Living Responsibility ( Memento of the original dated November 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on November 23, 2009.
- ↑ a b Deutsche Post DHL: DHL presents Disaster Response Team in Singapore website of Deutsche Post DHL, accessed on November 25, 2009
- ↑ Deutsche Post DHL: Disaster Response Teams ( memento of the original dated November 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on November 23, 2009.
- ↑ a b Deutsche Post DHL - Disaster relief is provided by the "Disaster Response Teams (DRT)" website of Deutsche Post DHL, accessed on August 31, 2017.
- ^ Deutsche Post DHL - Disaster Relief: Deployment in Pakistan Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on March 8, 2013.
- ↑ Deutsche Post DHL provides aid after floods in Guatemala Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on March 8, 2013.
- ↑ Deutsche Post DHL helps in the earthquake region in Chile Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on March 8, 2013.
- ↑ Deutsche Post DHL sets up Disaster Response Team in Haiti. Deutsche Post DHL website, accessed on January 14, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d Operations before 2006 are aid operations by DHL that have not yet been organized by the DRTs.
