News: Humanitarian airlift to China

The boys and girls from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) have been busy the past weeks.

There were several airlifts of relief goods into Myanmar, and since a week, relief agencies requested for the shipment of humanitarian goods to China, in support of the earthquake disaster.

Yesterday and last night, an Airbus 310 from Skycargo (Emirates Airlines) was loaded with relief goods from the Italian Civil Protection. Contrary to the normal practices, the plane was parked on the civilian side of Brindisi airport, so all goods had to be trucked to other side of the airport. All stuff is fixed on special pallets before being weighed and loaded onto the plane.

The cargo consisted of family tents and a full field hospital from the Italian Civil Protection, one of the agencies that stores their goods at the UNHRD depots in Brindisi.

The loading crew was ready at 2 am and the plane took off a few hours later. Next stop: China earthquake zone.

Pictures courtesy Lucien Jaggi (WFP/UNHRD)

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News: Humanitarian airlift to Myanmar

I am back in Brindisi.

I am sure you have seen the news of humanitarian relief goods being flown into Myanmar to assist with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. I bet all of that footage was on the Myanmar side...
Those first relief flights actually all originated from here, from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi.

Here are some pictures from the first relief flights into Myanmar on May 10th. This particular flight had cargo from OCHA and Irish Aid, containing water purification units, moskito nets, blankets, kitchen sets, tarpaulins and water storage containers.

View the picture slide show of this airlift.



Pictures courtesy Fulvio Pirato (UNHRD/WFP)

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Rumble: Brindisi Once More...

I am back in Brindisi (previous posts). Has been since late September. Seems like yesterday. Time flies.
Anyway, what I wanted to say: the weather is cold, but with gorgeous sunshine. That, in combination of the sea (Brindisi has a beautiful natural port, see picture taken this morning), makes this heaven.
Oh, yeah, and I am here for work, not for holidays,... Remind me..! What I do for work, you ask? Right now, I am here to check the implementation of a warehouse management system, which will make the operations of the UN Humanitarian Response Depots more effective. Details another time! :-)

Our office is at the other side of the port, in the right back of the monument. Check it out with Google Earth...

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Rumble: Humanitarian Airlift from Brindisi

This morning, as we were still preparing the emergency simulation exercise, on the other side of the base, the "real thing" was going on: They were loading a cargo plane with humanitarian goods bound for Uganda. (Check here for more photos and details)

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Rumble: Humanitarian Airlift from Brindisi (full post)

We have an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane prepositioned in our UN Humanitarian Response base (UNHRD) in Brindisi. The IL-76 is a cargo plane often used for humanitarian interventions. This medium range workhorse which can carry a payload up to 45 metric tons.

Everyone who has ever flown on an IL-76 knows the best place to enjoy the flight is the small cabin under the main flightdeck, which is the navigator position. You sit at the height of the plane's belly (makes interesting landing!), but with a wide view.

The plane's cargo hold is high and can carry all kinds of cargo.

This air lift was destined for Uganda - there is a problem with the flooding in the North of the country. The flight was transported cargo for UNICEF, Irish Aid, OCHA and WFP. It contained water purification equipment, and temporary shelters.

(This post is backdated to show full picture details. The pictures and facts are from Sept.23 2007)

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