DHL extends relief efforts in Pakistan
Bonn / Islamabad, September 15, 2010: In the wake of a continuing difficult situation caused by nationwide flooding, the Disaster Response Team (DRT) has been working in the military section of the Islamabad airport since August 26. To date, the DHL employees have unloaded and relief supplies like food, water, tents, tarpaulins, cloth and hygienic articles, preparing them for further transport into the country. A special challenge is the handling of unsolicited goods that often arrive damaged and need to be sorted and repacked before further transport. Over five weeks, some 28-30 volunteers from the DHL DRT pool of 200 ensured fast, efficient unloading of incoming relief goods at the airport in Islamabad as well as the clear sorting of these supplies and palletising for further distribution.
On the extension of the deployment, Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel said: “To date, our employees have handled 2,632 tons of relief supplies and assembled 2,500 special emergency packs for remote areas.”
Background
The DRT’s work is based on an agreement with the Pakistani NDMA and a long-standing partnership with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In 2005, DHL entered into a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN OCHA. DHL’s global network consists of there teams each of which is assigned to a specific geographic region. Each team consists of a pool of about 200 specially trained DHL employees, who – in addition to their normal job – have volunteered to take part in the pro-bono humanitarian efforts. Each DRT can be deployed to a crisis area within 72 hours and for a period of up to three weeks. By that time, the initial wave of international charter aircraft bringing in aid supplies has normally subsided to a level that is manageable by local authorities. Up to fifteen members of the team are present at any point in time during the deployment.
DHL is a global network of over 220 countries with about 300,000 employees worldwide. DHL accepts its social responsibility by supporting climate protection, disaster management and education.
The Liaison-ed Road to Sustainable Development
Islamabad, Oct. 07: A conference themed ‘The Road to Sustainable Development: Challenges, Opportunities & Alliances’ sought to develop an understanding with the Development Organizations sector of Pakistan, International Development Organizations and their local and inter-national implementation partners – and about the facilitation that Barclays, the event sponsor, could contribute towards the country’s social development.
The organizers aimed to focus on the implementation of sustainable development activities to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction and to address other cross-cutting issues such as education, health and governance.
Designed to bring all stakeholders together to discuss existing gaps; what works in social and economic development programs; how much progress has been made in implementing various social development solutions to-date and to close with initiatives for the future.
The floods have had a massive economic impact on the country – agricultural land, crops, livestock and small businesses have all been severely affected. Priority areas include rebuilding community and local governance infrastructure and vital public services and reducing risk for the future.
The sponsor, Barclays, operates in over 50 countries and employs nearly 147,000 people for 48 million clients worldwide and has been involved in community development as a global citizen. In Pakistan, it has contributed more than Rs.70 million through initiatives focusing on Education and Health to-date. Additionally, in line with its ongoing commitment, Barclays has donated more than Rs. 13 million to flood relief, further committing around Rs. 16 million to support medium to long-term rehabilitation in the country.
