DEUTSCHE POST DHL GROUP ACTIVATES DISASTER RESPONSE TEAM TO SUPPORT THE COLOMIBIAN RED CROSS WITH ITS FOOD DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS FOR THOSE IN NEED

• DHL Express volunteers have been supporting the Colombian Red Cross Cundinamarca y Bogotá branches,  since April 9 
• DHL employees coordinated delivery of 4,000 boxes of food and assembled an additional 5,000 food bags to be delivered

Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s leading mail and logistics services provider, activated its Disaster Response Team (DRT) to provide logistics support for COVID-19 response efforts in cooperation with the Colombian Red Cross.  DHL’s DRT is comprised of specially-trained employee volunteers from DHL Express located in Bogota, Colombia. The DRT efforts began on April 9th and will continue through May 15, 2020.

“Public-private partnerships of this nature are critical during times of emergency response. Being able to partner with DHL and to rely on their logistics expertise to help provide critical resources to those in need is a benefit to the communities that we serve and we are pleased to have their support”, said Gabriel Camero Ramos, President, Colombian Red Cross, Cundinamarca y Bogotá branches.

DHL’s DRT consulted with the Colombian Red Cross to establish a process to assemble food ration bags at a DHL Express facility located in Bogota and to deliver food rations for those in need. Recently, DHL Express employees coordinated the delivery of 4,000 boxes of food donated by private donors and government agencies to those in need.  On Saturday, April 25, DHL Express employees assembled an additional 5,000 food ration bags, each including 10 different food items, to be delivered to affected families. The effort falls under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by DHL and the Colombian Red Cross on March 6, 2020. Under the MOU, DHL will collaborate on emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts with the Colombian Red Cross upon request.

“Our company purpose is to connect people and improve lives,” said Gilberto Castro, Americas DRT Coordinator, Deutsche Post DHL Group. “Our DRT efforts support our company purpose. The DRTs are comprised of highly-trained employee volunteers who provide logistics expertise to help coordinate humanitarian logistics during emergency response situations.” 

About the Disaster Response Team 

The DRTs are part of DPDHL Group's GoHelp disaster management program, 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 700 specially-trained employee volunteers worldwide who can deploy within 72 hours after a disaster.

Since the partnership was launched, the DRTs have completed more than 45 deployments for different disasters in over 20 countries. This is DHL’s fourth DRT deployment in the Americas region so far this year, following response in January for an earthquake in Puerto Rico and mudslides in Brazil. Most recently DHL supported the Costa Rica National Emergency Commission with establishing a central warehouse for COVID-19 supplies.  In the Americas region, DHL has more than 364 trained DRT employee volunteers ready to respond in 10 countries.

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.  

You can read more about Deutsche Post DHL’s sustainability activities in our latest Sustainability Report.