Humanitarian assistance

The Humanitarian Hub: First Aid from Panama

At a time when humanitarian assistance and the strategic storage of medicines and vaccines are uppermost in the minds of many, it’s perhaps reassuring to take note of CLRAH – the Centro Logístico Regional de Asistencia Humanitaria/Regional Humanitarian Assistance Logistics Center – in Panama.

It’s one of six such facilities set up globally by the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD). The other five are located in Brindisi, Dubai, Accra, Kuala Lumpur and Las Palmas.

Climate variability, political instability and more recently global pandemics increase the risk of catastrophe for a growing number of people across the Caribbean and Latin America. Panama’s strategic geographic location and longstanding logistical expertise and capacity led to the installation of an emergency response center for the region.

Launched as a Government initiative CLRAH (or Humanitarian Hub as it is known), began operating in Panama in late 2018. The Hub’s main objective is to take advantage of the country’s comparatively stable economic and political environment, its limited vulnerability to natural events such as hurricanes and its highly developed air and maritime connectivity. As a result, Panama is an ideal base from which to ensure a better coordinated, faster and more effective response to possible disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Three units

CLRAH manages the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), which covers 12,000 square meters spread across three units operated respectively by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC), and Panama’s own National System of Civil Protection (SINAPROC). It also has 1,115 square meters of cold storage for key supplies such as medicines and vaccines.

The original idea for CLRAH was inspired by the positive results many international organizations had addressing prior regional humanitarian emergencies from bases in Panama.

With strong support from national carrier Copa Airlines and Hub users, Panama was one of the first countries to provide assistance and humanitarian supplies to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, and the British Virgin Islands following the devastation caused in September 2017 by hurricanes Irma and María.

Since the Hub began operating, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama has signed agreements with the Executive Directorate of the Mesoamerican Integration & Development Project (DEPM), the General Secretariat of the Andean Community (SGCAN), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Agency (CDEMA), and the Coordination Center for the Prevention of Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC) to provide cooperation and humanitarian assistance in case of disasters in countries around the region.

Connection

CLRAH is based at Panamá Pacífico Airport (formerly a US Air Force base), which is around 10km from Balboa. A new US$10 million direct connection from CLRAH to the runway is being built at the airport.