Good News Katrina : DHL moves 4.77 Million pounds of Relief Supplies

Led by Chris Weeks, Director, Disaster Response Team, a group of 20 DHL
employee volunteers have dedicated their transportation and logistics expertise
to the independent United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
and its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), working in non-stop shifts
to manage the influx of commercial and military aircraft arriving at the Base.
The DHL Disaster Response Team assists with unloading the aircraft, the sort and
inventory of all donations, and reload and forwarding of ground shipments direct
to the areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
"With millions of pounds of
relief supplies arriving at the Little Rock Air Force Base from all over the
world, our most critical task is to ensure we keep relief supplies moving to
help the victims of Hurricane Katrina," said Chris Weeks, Director, DHL Disaster
Response Team. "We'll do whatever it takes to deliver the supplies into the
hands of the people who need it, quickly and reliably."
DHL is coordinating
with the OFDA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to have
supplies delivered to locations identified by FEMA based on immediate need. To
date, goods donated from 12 countries -- the United Kingdom, France, Italy,
China, Spain, Egypt, Russia, Israel, Denmark, Tunisia, Thailand, and Czech
Republic -- have been loaded into 60 trucks and dispatched from Little Rock Air
Force Base to locations across the Gulf Coast, including Camp Beauregard in
Pineville, Louisiana; the Superdome in New Orleans; and Jackson, Mississippi.
Relief shipments have included:
Over 33,000 pounds of premium rice, a gift
from the King of Thailand
113,000 military meal rations ("Meals Ready to
Eat") from the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Spain
Nearly 1,000 kits of
children's school supplies and books from Denmark
600 generators, 800 tents
and 10,000 sets of children's clothing from China
More than 25,000 pieces of
baby food, instant cereal, and formula from Israel
Water and sanitation
products from Tunisia, including 900 boxes of soap and detergent
Relief
shipments have also included tents, generators, water, milk, baby food, first
aid kits and other medical supplies, soap, mattresses and bedding, clothes,
diapers, wheelchairs, tarps, and kitchen sets,. This week, additional flights
are expected to arrive loaded with international aid from Peru, Finland,
Romania, Chile, South Korea, Russia, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, India,
Denmark, Slovenia, and Greece.

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