Humanitarian hubs from around the world

While Dubai hosts one of the largest humanitarian hubs in the world, there are others elsewhere that are also home to aid agencies, NGOs and suppliers work.

Here is a look at some of them under the network managed by the UN’s World Food Progamme (WFP), one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies.

Panama City: this regional hub hosts about 30 organisations, such as UN agencies and the Latin America office of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) besides other humanitarian response agencies that operate storage facilities with emergency relief items in Panama City. A single-site facility for the UN agencies under construction is expected to open this year.

Port of Las Palmas, Spain: in July, the Humanitarian Logistics Hub of the World Food Progamme (WFP) opened in the port city. Funded by the Spanish government, the hub looks to respond particularly to humanitarian crises in Africa. It is part of the network of the UN Humanitarian Response Depots managed (UNHRD) by WFP. The network comprises centres in Dubai, Italy, Ghana, Malaysia and Panama and works with UN agencies, NGOs and governments. The Las Palmas hub has two warehouses with 1,300 square metres of indoor space and 5,200 square metres outdoor space.

Brindisi, Italy: located at southern Italy's Brindisi military airport, the depot was the WFP's first humanitarian response depot, set up in 2000. This year, Italy has invested €2 million (Dh9.4m) in direct funding and €1.9m for Italian Development Cooperation operations in the base, according to Onuitalia.com, which tracks Italy's contributions to the UN. New facilities at San Vito dei Normanni will increase the capacity by 150,000 square metres, the WFP says.

Accra, Ghana: this hub, which opened in 2006, is located within Accra's Kotoka International Airport. The facility stocks relief supplies such as high-energy biscuits, as well as medicines, sanitation and hygiene systems, radio and telecommunication equipment and drinking water, according to the WFP.

Subang Humanitarian Air Hub, Malaysia: in 2010, the WFP reached an agreement with the government of Malaysia to establish the first United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Asia, based in Subang.

The UNHRD in Subang, the fifth such hub in WFP’s global emergency response arsenal, is designed to deliver humanitarian relief items within 48 hours of a crisis occurring. The Malaysia government has built offices, warehouses and a training centre, and contributes US$1m annually to run the centre, according to the WFP. Temporary aid operations were run from there in 2005, just 10 days after a tsunami hit South East Asia and India, killing more than 230,000 people in 14 countries and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres high.

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