Two decades of GoHelp: Always one step ahead

On October 8, 2005, at 8:50 a.m. local time, a massive earthquake struck the Kashmir region. Hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed, millions lost their homes, and more than 80,000 lost their lives. For the first time, DHL Group officially deployed a Disaster Response Team (DRT) to provide logistics support at the airport, helping to streamline the flow of aid to those in need.

But the roots of GoHelp stretch back even further. In 2003, DHL volunteers supported recovery efforts after the devastating earthquake in Iran, and the following year, teams were on the ground in Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami. These early missions showed the impact DHL could make in times of crisis.

Further deployments revealed another critical gap: While rapid response was vital, disaster preparedness was just as essential. That’s why in 2009, DHL Group launched Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD), the second pillar of GoHelp. GARD equips airports in disaster-prone regions with the skills and processes they need to handle sudden surges of humanitarian aid. The following year, GARD proved its worth during the Haiti earthquake, when prepared airport personnel helped save precious time – and lives.

Humanitarian disasters are becoming more frequent and severe. Over the past 20 years, we’ve proven ourselves to be a reliable humanitarian logistics partner, but we’ve been asked to help even more – to help organizations worldwide build logistics capacity where it’s needed most. Our answer: the DHL Academy of Humanitarian Logistics (DAHL) – and now the third pillar of GoHelp, launched in 2025.

DAHL envisions a global response system that prepares better, moves faster, and puts crucial logistics knowledge in the right hands. That’s why the Academy’s mission is to equip humanitarian organizations with the logistics skills to plan smarter, act faster, and reach people sooner. Backed by our global network and expertise as the world’s leading logistics company, DAHL offers pro-bono, expert-led training, especially for local and regional responders, helping them gain the skills and know-how to manage aid logistics more efficiently, from planning through to delivery.

Although still in its pilot phase, DAHL has already attracted over 85 NGOs and trained more than 600 humanitarian logistics specialists. Training has even taken place in crisis-affected areas such as Ukraine and South Sudan, proving just how timely and relevant the program is.

From the very beginning, GoHelp was built in partnership with the United Nations (UN) and the broader humanitarian community. When disasters strike, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) calls on DHL’s DRTs to provide critical airport logistics support – ensuring that incoming relief supplies move swiftly through bottlenecked airports and reach people in need. GARD is a public-private partnership between the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and DHL. Since 2020, we have also partnered with the UN World Food Programme to deliver food assistance in emergencies. This year, we joined forces the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) to combine the strengths of our operations to adapt to the rapidly evolving humanitarian environment.

Humanitarian crises are a fact of life, but logistics bottlenecks don’t have to be. GoHelp is a combination of our unmatched logistics expertise and the passion of our people. Even before the first official DRT mission, DHL volunteers stepped up to help. Today, more than 1,000 trained DRT volunteers stand ready to deploy within 72 hours of a disaster. 

At DHL, “Connecting people, improving lives” isn’t just our company purpose – it’s our common purpose. It’s part of a strong foundation we live by, embodied by every volunteer who reaches into our communities to make a difference.