From the outside, the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD)/World Food Programme (WFP) facility at the International Humanitarian City (IHC) in Dubai looks nothing out of the ordinary. A row of sheds and buildings covering a large expanse – 16,500 square metres to be precise - with an additional office space of 2,880 square metres.
Read the full story: https://gulfnews.com/uae/emergencies/watch-how-un-agencies-largest-emergency-aid-hub-works-in-dubai-1.96337721
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#UAEnews #food #worldfoodprogramme
Read the full story: https://gulfnews.com/uae/emergencies/watch-how-un-agencies-largest-emergency-aid-hub-works-in-dubai-1.96337721
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#UAEnews #food #worldfoodprogramme
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00My name is Walid Ibrahim and I am the UNHRD Network Coordinator.
00:12UNHRD is a platform of five hubs that WFP manages on behalf of the humanitarian community.
00:18Today you are within one of its five hubs.
00:22Right now we are in the temperature control section of our warehouse
00:27and the items that you see behind me are the emergency response biscuits.
00:32These biscuits are designed with specific nutrition capacities
00:38so that they can provide a whole intake of nutrition to the affected population
00:46that do not have access to cooking facilities.
00:49UNHRD as a platform hosts over 100 partners.
00:53These partners have chosen to preposition their emergency stockpile within the UNHRD platform
01:00to be ready to respond to emergencies.
01:03Items that are typically stored by UN agencies, government partners, but also INGOs
01:10are tents, jerrycans, blankets, interagency health kits, water and sanitation kits
01:17in addition to items that the humanitarian workers themselves require as and when they respond to emergencies.
01:26We are referring to mobile storage warehouses, we refer to prefabricated offices
01:31and also to generators for example.
01:34To give you a general figure, throughout the UNHRD platform, so throughout its five hubs
01:41we typically hold on a yearly basis between 80 and 90 million dollars worth of equipment.
01:48Dubai is the largest of the five hubs in terms of operations
01:52and it typically stores about 40 to 50 million dollars worth of equipment every year.
01:59These items are brought into the hub typically by sea
02:05and then when an emergency strikes, UNHRD or themselves help them out to dispatch or to transport
02:13this required emergency items into the field.
02:17This typically happens by air, especially in the first instances of an emergency.
02:22Cargo will be prepared here at the warehouse.
02:25We have the cargo preparation area at the entrance of the warehouse.
02:30There cargo is palletized, prepared, put on a truck, truck goes to the airport,
02:34cargo will be loaded on the plane and the plane will reach the emergency theater.
02:39It's a process that takes a few hours, so we are able to respond to emergencies
02:46literally within 24 hours from the moment of its inception.
02:50So UNHRD is an entity managed by WFP.
02:56We are part of the World Food Program, which is known to the world as the food agency
03:01and logistics agency, logistics arm of the United Nations.
03:05And because of this comparative advantage, the humanitarian community has entrusted WFP to manage UNHRD
03:12so that it can extend its expertise in logistics to the entire humanitarian community.
03:18The UNHRD story starts around the year 2000,
03:22when OCHA handed over a small warehouse that was located in Pisa to WFP
03:28that managed it until 2006.
03:31So until 2006, the UNHRD network was just one hub.
03:36The logic of replicating that structure into four other hubs around the world was an easy leap.
03:45It brought about considerable savings on behalf of the humanitarian community,
03:50but also the ability to respond faster to emergencies.
03:54I was actually part of the team that set up the replication of the Brindisi experience into the other four hubs,
04:05then went and did other things in WFP.
04:08I've been with the organization for over 20 years,
04:11and I find myself heading this platform that brings me a great level of honor.
04:25So UNHRD responded to the crisis in Sudan from three of its hubs,
04:30Brindisi, Accra in Ghana, and Dubai.
04:35From Dubai specifically, we have moved three full aircrafts, full charters,
04:43that carried emergency relief items on behalf of UNFPA, IFRC, MSF, and UNICEF.
04:52These emergency relief items went straight to Port Sudan
04:57and provided an immediate response to the needs on the ground.
05:01The UNHRD hub in Dubai is supported by the International Humanitarian City.
05:08It's hosted by the International Humanitarian City
05:11that provides a valuable support to UNHRD and the rest of the humanitarian community.
05:21For more UN videos visit www.un.org