Kim Melville (third from left) with the DHL Disaster Response Team in Nepal.

On April 25 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal, but since then the Himalayan country has suffered more than 90 aftershocks of over 4.0 magnitude, as well as a 7.3 quake on May 12, which was followed by a 6.3 quake an hour later.
     Through much of this time Kim Melville, senior director of Global Airside & Standards at DHL Express, has helped corral aid arriving by freighter into Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport (KTM) to a nearby U.N. staging area as quickly as possible. He was part of DHL’s Disaster Response Team, which has been a notable and singular industry presence in Nepal, where logistics expertise has been in short supply.
     Melville is something of a disaster specialist - he was also involved in DHL’s effort to aid the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and, in 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, which left large swathes of the eastern Philippines almost post-apocalyptic.
     “For Katrina we were deployed to Little Rock Air Force Base where we sorted and distributed unsolicited aid,” he said. “There was all sorts of incoming cargo including 40 tonnes of rice from Thailand and U.N. kits, so we helped work out what to do with it and dispatched it on behalf of the various organizations.
     “In the Philippines, we worked at Cebu Airport as part of the U.N.’s logistics cluster, handling inbound freight that was then sent out to the Tacloban area.”
     At KTM, DHL’s DRT has worked alongside the U.S. Air Force, operating on the apron amid a steady flow of passengers arriving on scheduled planes. Most of the cargo incoming by freighter has then been taken to a nearby UN hub for onward distribution by truck, although some has also been flown out direct via helicopter.
     “With this operation at KTM, most of the airlines coming offload at the side of aircraft, we then take control of the freight and sort and arrange it for delivery by priority to the World Food Programme’s compound, which is 1.5km away,” said Melville. “From there it’s then distributed by WFP and NGOs.
     “When we arrived the airport was clogged with material—aircraft pallets and wooden pallets, all the aid etc. So we did a cleanup initially. There was around 200-300 tons of freight here.
     “The biggest challenge is that passengers have been coming in as normal, right through the cargo operations. There is no separate cargo apron, which is unusual.”
     After the second major quake on May 12 DHL extended its stay until the end of May. As flows have normalized, the operation has gradually become more efficient and the incoming humanitarian effort has turned to road and sea, although Nepal’s unique topography meant this happened later than is normal for most disaster response efforts.
     “We normally stay two to three weeks, but we were needed longer in Nepal because the airport was the main entry point until, now, the focus has moved to trucks,” explained Melville.

SkyKing is working with a charity to raise USD $50,000 for Nepal humanitarian efforts. This will be enough to feed and provide shelter through the monsoon season for almost 600 families in Sindhupalchowk, many of whom have been left homeless.    The devastation to the morale of Nepalese citizens is difficult to quantify, but after having been struck not once, but twice, it can only be assumed the citizenry is in the direst of straits. If you would like to donate, please click here:

     “Overall we’re really pleased with the DHL operation. We’re all volunteers and we want to do our best alongside our local colleagues who have been really enthusiastic and worked very hard even though many have damaged houses.”
     When not responding to disasters on the ground, Melville works for DHL’s “Get Airports Ready for Disaster” (GARD) program, which was set up with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2009 and helped Nepal develop a disaster strategy, much of which has been implemented in recent weeks.
     “We thought rather than just going out in an emergency, it was better to start training airports, and my background is aircraft logistics and handling so that’s why I got involved,” he said. “GARD aims to ensure airports are ready to cope with a disaster, because once they have the initial surge of relief, it can be very hard to manage without a plan in place.
     “So GARD is about being proactive rather than reactive. We run workshops with senior airport management staff and government officials so they have an integrated national policy plan in place in case the worst happens.
     “We’ve now developed plans for about 20 airports worldwide.
     “I think what has happened here in Nepal demonstrates how and why it’s better to plan ahead.”
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