BY: ROBERT ALTERMATT/JOSEF MÜLLER

Hundreds and thousands of people require immediate help in the event of a major disaster, such as the horrendous earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this year. The international community’s large aid organisations – for example the International Committee of the Red Cross or the United Nations’ Refugee Agency – have an important role in these challenging situations, especially from a logistics point of view.

Some emergency situations arise as a result of natural events, such as the devastating earthquake that occurred in Haiti or the gigantic tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in 2004. Large scale suffering can also be caused by a civil war, for example the one that Darfur (Sudan) is currently embroiled in. When scenarios like the ones cited above occur and there is a great and urgent need for relief work for the people affected, then teams of logistics experts immediately gather in the headquarters of aid organisations worldwide and set the wheels of relief in motion within hours of the drama hitting the headlines.

The main forum at last year’s World Congress of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (Fiata) in Geneva debated the issue of what type of logistics concepts should be applied in emergencies. Under the overall heading of «How do international organisations act in emergencies?», representatives from some of these bodies discussed various logistics approaches for regions hit by crisis and emergencies – a topic that was particularly appropriate in the city on the Rhône, as it houses the headquarters of many humanitarian organisations.

Rapid reaction required

Oliver Gisler, the director of the transport division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), pointed out what was required to provide large-scale logistics services in the wake of armed conflicts or natural disasters. His logistics division operates a vehicle fleet of 2,740 units, and has 1,300 generators, forklift trucks and ships. Air lifts are also carried out regularly. High costs arise from such efforts. Gisler said that every CHF 1 worth of emergency supplies requires an additional CHF 0.68 to get the goods to where they are needed.

Radisav Milijanovic, Gisler’s counterpart at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Budapest (Hungary), observed that «the UNHCR, with its 6,600 employees worldwide, takes care of 10 million international refugees in 110 countries, and 14.4 million people who are displaced in their own countries. The UNHCR’s transport budget is USD 32 million. The organisation also cooperates with private enterprises, including, for example, the logistics service provider Kuehne + Nagel, based in Schindellegi (Switzerland).

Beat von Däniken, chief of staff at the Swiss federal agency for development and cooperation (SDC), also pointed to the huge efforts that his department makes. Logistics play a major role there too, as it is vital to act swiftly when catastrophes occur. The rapid response teams of his department’s humanitarian aid unit can be in action at the site of a disaster anywhere on the planet 6–24 hours after it has occurred. Rapid logistics services have a very central role to play in the ability to help out immediately, as «immediately» means within hours of the event. Von Däniken graphically described the problems that arise when local authorities are unable to react adequately to terrible events. (In Haiti in January, for example, the authorities were completely helpless and dependent on the aid of friendly states. – ed.) In an emergency, airports represent a classic logistics bottleneck, as far too many aircraft want to land at the same time, thus frequently exceeding a hub’s handling capacities and causing massive congestion (see also page 25). Von Däniken added that transportation or communications infrastructure that has been destroyed presents another substantial problem for relief workers (see also pages 33 and 38).

Austrian Red Cross a good example

The Austrian Red Cross (ÖRK) deploys its own vehicles when it is involved in emergency operations, but freight forwarders and CEP service providers distribute the supplies. It is not only decisive that aid workers arrive as quickly as possible when a disaster strikes, but it is equally paramount that the aid material is dispatched in the shortest possible time and arrives soon to ease the plight of those who are affected. Every measure taken in the logistics and staff deployment process has to be spot on when every minute counts.

The ability to react rapidly and make use of highly-sophisticated logistics concepts is one of the core skills the Austrian Red Cross has to offer, according to Jürgen Kunert, the head of Einkauf & Service GmbH, a division of the non-governmental organisation’s purchasing and logistics unit headquartered in Vienna Liesing.

Its own logistics division

The association’s logistics activities are coordinated there and it is also the site of its interim warehousing facilities, where no less than 8,000 items are stored, including equipment for the preparation of drinking water and search dogs’ gear. These articles are supplied to all sections of the Red Cross in the country. Eight freight forwarders and one CEP company are the association’s logistics providers, and Kunert is happy with their performances.

When a disaster occurs the organisation can provide tents, camp beds and emergency equipment for as many as 3,000 people in a very short period. The ÖRK’s 155 own trucks form the backbone of aid transportation efforts. Getting medical staff, volunteers and equipment to the site of the emergency as soon as possible is meticulously organised. The ÖRK is on the scene as rapidly for earthquake victims in Indonesia or Italy as it was when floods affected parts of the federal states of Niederösterreich and Burgenland last summer. Kunert told the ITJ that «we always buy the equipment required for our international activities in the country concerned.»

It would be far too expensive from a logistics point of view to fly beds or tents from Austria to Indonesia, which is why the ÖRK has a worldwide pool of suppliers that it can make use of as and when it needs them. The material used to help those requiring aid is only bought after a precise analysis of their needs has been made, and it is mostly financed by donations specifically made for an event. «After the tsunami engulfed coastal regions of Southeast Asia, I received 80 e-mails with offers from suppliers in a very short time,» said Kunert, a former forwarder who feels right at home as a logistician with the red cross.

Preparing drinking water

But how is the Austrian Red Cross called to a disaster zone in the first place? If a catastrophe strikes in any part of the globe, then the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva coordinates activities. It gathers information from all corners of the world, sets up a committee to establish what the initial aid requirements are and activates the national ICRC body in the country concerned or in neighbouring states of the region.

The ÖRK, for example, is in high demand worldwide on account of its very professional drinking water preparation equipment. There are ten sets in Austria, and they can quickly be deployed in any far flung corner of the world in a moment of crisis.

It did not take the ÖRK long to pack 400,000 protective masks and dispatch them to Ukraine when a swine flu epidemic broke out there in November and the government in Kiev asked the EU to help. In that particular case, Kunert said, Brussels had got in touch with the Austrian home affairs ministry, which in turn asked the ÖRK to transport the 400,000 masks to where they were needed. The ministry paid the logistics costs involved.

In other cases the ÖRK can rely on financial support from governmental institutions, the EU and on donations to finance the transportation of injured people, emergency medical supplies or aid that it supplies.