meeting the emergency
Emergency T
When a whole country calls for assistance, and the speed of response can be measured as a simple matter of life or death, there is no faster way to rush in emergency equipment and supplies to disaster areas than by air
he latest in a long line of recent natural disasters came after severe monsoon rains caused flooding in northern Pakistan in early August. Many hundreds of people lay dead or dying as the risk of a cholera epidemic grew higher every
day. The devastated country had no other option than to call for international assistance, triggering a huge response in humanitarian aid pouring into the South Asian country. In the logistics arena, well-practised and experienced
help was soon in the air. In a disaster zone, it is vital that the human casualties have access to clean water; so portable water sterilisation equipment, collapsible water containers and sterilisation tablets are needed in the early days of response just as much as medical supplies, food and shelter. The air freight business is no stranger to such requests,
having co-ordinated similar assistance efforts after Iran’s Bam earthquake in 2003, the Indian Ocean tsunami in
2004, recent earthquakes in China and Haiti, and many other similar responses around the world in recent times. When disaster strikes and urgent aircraft capacity is
required, the charter broker is an obvious first step in the response chain. When goods are needed at distant locations, be they humanitarian aid shipments or a day- to-day commercial necessity to keep industrial production lines moving, these companies are well aware that speed of response is the prime consideration. The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which has UN
Humanitarian Response Depots in Italy, Dubai, Ghana, Panama and Malaysia, is one of a number of globally- active humanitarian organisations that keeps permanent stockpiles of non-perishable items in storage ready for such an emergency. Also, the UN refugee agency (UNHRC) says it can
mobilise more than 300 trained personnel within 72 hours AIR LOGISTICSCHINA 41
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