Humanitarian Relief
When a natural disaster occurs, we all want to help. Yet, as the world learned in the aftermath of the China earthquake, Myanmar cyclone, the South Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, mobilizing relief presents an incredible logistical challenge. In the wake of such incredible events, there is a tremendous demand on the transportation industry for assistance.
As an organization that serves an important role in transporting relief items to affected areas, UPS has long sought a more effective means of vetting in kind donations and aligning those offerings to the actual needs of organizations active in the field. While UPS limits in-kind support to the movement of disaster relief shipments, we found that partnering with others expands our reach to those in crisis.
Japan Earthquake Update
Following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan, The UPS Foundation pledged $1 million in relief for earthquake victims there. The funds will be used for in-kind transportation of emergency supplies, trained humanitarian logistics personnel, and financial support. UPS is coordinating with its existing relief agency partners, including the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to assist the relief effort.
UPS has resumed operations in Japan, but some areas still have limited service. Detailed service updates are available on www.ups.com. Questions about individual packages can be directed to 1-800-782-7892.
For those interested, donations can be made to assist relief efforts to the following organizations: Aidmatrix, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Japan Food Bank Network, UNICEF, Japanese American Citizens League, and CARE.
Learn more about UPS's Humanitarian relief efforts.
UPS's Haiti Relief Efforts
UPS committed $1 million in cash and in-kind shipping to three humanitarian relief organizations: CARE, the Red Cross and UNICEF to support the victims of Haiti's earthquake.
Here are some details of how our contribution was put to use since the earthquake and looking ahead to additional efforts.
- Air Shipments of supplies to Haiti via the Dominican Republic and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
- Ground and air transportation of donated goods from collection sites and distribution centers to airports (Europe, US)
- Customs clearance for goods traveling across borders to Haiti.
- More than 100 UPS transportation and logistics experts are currently providing supply chain coordination across the world
Goods transported so far include high-energy biscuits, tents, water, personal hygiene kits, ready-to-eat meals, tarps, water purification systems, medical supplies, underwear and plastic containers to store water.
Additionally, at least two UPSers have now been activated as part of the World Food Programme's Logistics Emergency Team. They will be assigned to air and warehouse operations in the Dominican Republic, which has been established as a UN logistics center serving Haiti.
Learn more about our relief efforts from UPSers on the ground in Haiti.
Connecting the World When Crisis Strikes
The UPS Foundation has key partnerships with organizations active in disaster relief such as CARE and Aidmatrix Foundation. Here’s how we are helping in advance of the next natural disaster:
- UPS partnered with the Aidmatrix Foundation on the expansion of a technology solution that connects disaster relief donors and national voluntary organizations active in disasters to get the right items to the right people at the right time.
- UPS also expanded its long-standing partnership with CARE and is currently conducting assessments of CARE's distribution network in Sudan, Indonesia, Honduras and Dubai to help improve the relief supply chain.
Humanitarian Relief Collaboration through the World Economic Forum
Following the tsunami that impacted Southeast Asia, the World Economic Forum provided a neutral platform for the development of partnerships between the humanitarian relief sector and member companies. UPS, along with two other logistics and transportation companies — Agility Logistics and TNT — put their competitive nature aside to collectively develop a system for sharing their core competencies with relief organizations – the Logistics Emergency Team.
UPS Efforts Support Disaster Victims in Myanmar and China
Tragically on May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit southwestern Myanmar (Burma), the worst and deadliest natural disaster ever to hit the region. The Logistics Emergency Team (LET) rallied to support the World Food Programme (WFP) by dispatching LETS participants to support WFP relief efforts at Dommuang airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
UPS Supply Chain Solutions Australia Transportation Manager Mike Thomas, who participated in the World Economic Forum pilot training session, joined representatives from Agility Logistics, TNT, in a Logistics Cluster to provide overall logistics augmentation and coordination to support all humanitarian assistance being delivered to the affected population.
UPS provided a $200,000 grant to CARE, which is one of the few NGOs with established operations in Myanmar. A UPS Global Solutions manager helped coordinate UPS’s logistical support of CARE with CARE’s country director. The UPS Supply Chain Solutions Centre in Bangkok coordinated the assembly of 50,000 family hygiene kits and airlift coordination to Myanmar.
UPS Airlines also coordinated an in-kind air shipment of materials on behalf of Latter-day Saint Charities from the U.S. to support CARE operations in the disaster area in Myanmar including:
- 9,600 first aid kits
- 2 million water purification packets
- 70 pallets of medical emergency supplies
- 67,200 hygiene kits
In May 2008, a massive earthquake and further aftershocks devastated the Sichuan province of China. The UPS Asia Pacific Region made a $50,000 local grant to China Friendship Foundation.Gifts In Kind International and UPS teamed up with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China and several corporate donors to send a fully loaded UPS relief plane to the areas of China affected by the 2008 earthquake and its aftershocks. The relief plane from the United States contained more than 10,000 tents, 1,100 cots and 225 cases of surgical gloves.
For more information on donating products, human and financial resources to better respond to worldwide crises, please contact Aidmatrix for domestic U.S. disasters and http://www.aidmatrix.org/disaster.html for International disasters.
