Logistics and air charter organisations have been supporting delivery of relief supplies to Mozambique and neighbouring countries following the devastating cyclone last month.
Various freight and logistics organisations have been active in supporting deliver aid supplies to Mozambique and neighbouring countries following the devastating tropical cyclone there last month.
Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Disaster Response Team (DRT) was among the first to provide humanitarian logistics support after cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique and neighbouring countries Zimbabwe and Malawi. A series of storm surges and massive flooding followed, causing further widespread damage and destruction. In Mozambique, hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless, and extensive damage to infrastructure such as communications systems, electricity supply and roads has made it extremely difficult to provide humanitarian help and logistics, the (DRT) said, which has been providing assistance at the local airport in Beira. As many as three million people have been in need of humanitarian assistance
This first DRT deployment to Africa has been headed by Chris Weeks, director for humanitarian affairs at Deutsche Post DHL Group, who arrived just days after the disaster struck, accompanied by a team of DHL volunteers from the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and South Africa. The DRT has been cooperating closely with national and international humanitarian aid organizations, and with the responsible airport personnel to provide logistical support in the form of coordination of relief supplies.
He said the airport in Beira was one of the few places in the city that was dry and had functioning infrastructure in the first days after the cyclone, with the airport able to receive most of the incoming aid such as water, food, tents, fuel, medical supplies and technical equipment. These are sorted and distributed in Beira as well as in rural areas and other places affected by the cyclone.
Weeks said: “As logistics specialists with vast experience in disaster management, our skills and expertise can help save lives. We help airport personnel to process relief supplies quickly so that they reach the victims of the cyclone in the fastest possible time.”
As typically happens in such a major catastrophe, the initial damage and destruction leads to follow-on effects over the next few days – such as outbreaks of diseases that increase the need for medical supplies, Weeks said. In Mozambique’s case, among the secondary problems has been cholera, with some warning that hunger could be the third – because the floodwaters that made a large part of central Mozambique a vast inland sea are draining, laying bare a severe lack of food for the months ahead.
Air Charter Service is among other logistics firms that have been supporting the relief efforts. Over the past couple of weeks, the leading aircraft charter specialist has chartered aircraft to fly a total of almost 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid, as well as almost 100 doctors, into disaster-struck Mozambique so far.
With Cyclone Idai leaving at least 700 people dead and three million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, Air Charter Service said it “has worked tirelessly since then in conjunction with various aid agencies and governments, flying in a variety of cargo, including cholera vaccines, water treatments, mosquito nets and tarpaulins”.
Dan Morgan-Evans, group director of cargo at ACS, said: “We even had one flight that was transporting an entire field hospital to the region, including X-ray machines and 4×4 vehicles. In total, so far we have chartered aircraft for just over 480 tonnes of equipment, on a variety of aircraft, ranging from Antonov 12s and Ilyushin 76s, to Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 777s, with more to come in the next few days.
“Our offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa have all been involved in the relief effort. As well as the huge amount of cargo, we also had a Boeing 737 transporting 80 doctors to Beira in Mozambique over the weekend.”
UPS said the UPS Foundation had also been coordinating with United Nations partners to speed food and supplies to impacted communities in Mozambique and Malawi, noting: “Collaborations between The UPS Foundation and leading humanitarian relief organisations are bringing urgent relief by land, sea and air. As flood waters slowly recede, UPS and the UPS Foundation continue to engage in close collaborations with the UN Logistics Cluster and relief organisations including The World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNHCR, CARE and MedShare.”
Eduardo Martinez, president of the UPS Foundation and UPS chief diversity and inclusion officer, commented: “The situation is heartwrenching, and the need for help is urgent. The collaboration with our United Nations and disaster relief network partners is allowing us to address immediate needs for food and shelter, and to bring supplies that will be critical during the recovery period.”
UPS said its multi-modal relief strategy has included: Coordination with United Nations partners on four flights landing on the east coast of Africa to bring food and supplies. Two flight rotations into Beira, Mozambique on behalf of UNICEF to bring ready-to-eat meals that will provide essential nutrition to more than 7,000 people. Collaboration with The World Food Programme on the airlift of two SHERP amphibious transport vehicles from the Ukraine to Beira, Mozambique, to deliver food and supplies to isolated communities where roads are impassable or no longer exist. Coordination with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to transport more than 190,000 lbs. (more than 86,000 kg) of core relief items, including tarps, buckets, solar lamps, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, food preparation equipment and blankets, to Lilongua, Malawi. Transport of 168,000 water purification sachets to Malawi, in addition to the activation of $25,000 of the advanced relief funding provided to CARE by The UPS Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase tarps and blankets which are being transported to Beira via ocean transport.
In collaboration with MedShare, UPS is also preparing to transport an ocean container of medical supplies that will help more than 12,000 people in Malawi. In collaboration with the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), UPS has also transported 15 pallets of cholera and typhoid treatment kits which will help prevent the outbreak of water-borne illnesses in Mozambique, an increasing threat as waters recede.
UPS said the relief efforts and collaborations in Africa were just the latest in UPS’s history of supporting communities in times of need. In 2018, UPS and The UPS Foundation responded to 29 major world disasters and invested $16 million in funding, in-kind, and technical support for community safety initiatives that included disaster preparedness and urgent response, recovery and public health system strengthening, spanning 71 countries across continents around the globe.
Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Disaster Response Teams are part of the group’s ‘GoHelp’ disaster management programme, which it has operated in partnership with the United Nations (UN) since 2005. Through this partnership, the group provides the UN and national disaster management agencies with pro bono access to its core logistics expertise, and the logistics skills of more than 500 specially-trained employee volunteers worldwide who can deploy within 72 hours after a natural disaster.
Since the partnership was launched, the DRTs have completed more than 40 deployments for different natural disasters in over 20 countries – most recently the team helped the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Palu, Indonesia in October 2018. In addition to the DRT deployments, the Group’s Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD) initiative – also part of the GoHelp program – trains airport management in high-risk regions to be better prepared should disaster strike.
Source: LLoyd’s
