GoHelp: When disaster strikes

In the wake of a natural disaster, getting relief goods quickly into the affected areas can be a matter of life and death. GoHelp aims to leverage our logistics expertise to help streamline the flow of incoming aid.

On December 26, 2003, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake devastated the Iranian city of Bam. In the immediate aftermath, countries and organizations worldwide flew tons of relief aid into the country. Because the small provincial airport was not designed to cope with the sudden rise in incoming air traffic carrying pallets of relief supplies, operations came to a standstill.

We realized there was a disconnect between the logistics and humanitarian communities, and many relief organizations needed airfield logistics expertise. Working with UN agencies and NGOs, we developed solutions to support disaster relief logistics - and our GoHelp program was born.

Natural disasters are a fact of life, but airport bottlenecks don't have to be. Logistics is what we do best, and our people want to help - so it just makes sense to utilize our expertise and leverage our global network to support and improve relief efforts around the world.

Since 2004, we've been deploying teams of logistics experts to affected airports worldwide when called upon by the United Nations. If we can reduce the negative impact of a natural event and help communities recover more quickly, then we've done our job. And that's something we can be proud of.

At the global level, GoHelp is divided into two complementary functions: disaster response and disaster preparedness.

Our Disaster Response Teams (DRTs) deploy to airports in need when called upon by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Our Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD) program collaborates with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to prepare airport personnel and local disaster management organizations to better manage a surge in incoming relief goods.