AHA Centre Renews Its Collaboration With DHL Group on Disaster Management

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) and DHL Group (DHL), the world’s largest logistics services provider, renewed its Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to establish the foundation for cooperation that will enhance the quality of emergency response between both parties.

Signed initially in 2019, the renewed MOI will extend the collaboration for another five years. As part of the MOI, DHL Group’s Disaster Response Team (DRT) will assist the AHA Centre during disasters and be primarily responsible for airport ground handling of humanitarian relief cargo at airports or an alternative point of entry (except seaports).

DHL’s Disaster Response Team will handle, sort, inventorize, and store incoming relief cargo at an airport or other point of entry except for seaports. Other than managing airside or landside relief cargo operations, DRT will also help with customs processes if requested by the AHA Centre or ASEAN Member States.

“A successful DRT deployment requires strong public-private partnerships and we are proud to continue our work with AHA Centre to help them achieve the One ASEAN, One Response vision. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Asia was the world’s most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023.

This is why it is even more important now that we work with organizations like AHA Centre to assist disaster-affected areas in Southeast Asia quickly,” said Carl Schelfhaut, Head of the GoHelp Program for Asia Pacific, DHL Group.

The DRTs are part of DHL 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 specially trained employee volunteers worldwide who can deploy within 72 hours after a natural disaster.

As one of the AHA Centre’s longstanding partners, DHL has played a pivotal role in ensuring efficient logistics support during emergency response. “Through this continued collaboration, the AHA Centre and DHL have consistently demonstrated their shared commitment to building a more disaster-resilient region,” said Lee Yam Ming, the Executive Director of the AHA Centre. The most recent emergency response demonstrated collaboration between the AHA Centre and DHL was the mobilization of ASEAN relief items during Tropical Cyclone Yagi in October.

Mr. Lee highlighted that this partnership will further enhance disaster responses, particularly during emergencies, by facilitating the swift deployment of relief items from the regional warehouses to the affected communities and the overall effectiveness of relief operations.

DHL Group’s DRTs are comprised of specially trained volunteer employees from across the Group’s business units, including DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Supply Chain and DHL eCommerce. The teams are located in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe Middle East and Africa, covering all disaster-prone countries.

Since 2005, multiple DRT deployments have taken place in Southeast Asia, involving more than 120 volunteers in Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

In addition to the DRT deployments, the Group's Get Airports Ready for Disaster initiative – also part of the GoHelp program – trains airport management in high-risk regions to be better prepared should disaster strike.