Ohio-Based SkyLife Offers Rapid Aerial Deployment of Humanitarian Aid for Disaster Relief
Farmington Hills, MI, September 8, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Almost daily, our planet is ravaged by natural disasters or political and military conflicts that drive innocent people from the comfort and security of their homes. Hurricane Katrina. Fukushima. Darfur. Syria. Sudan and South Sudan. These names and the attendant displacement and suffering, dwell in our collective conscience.
It is estimated that in 2014 alone nearly 20 million people were displaced from their homes due to natural disasters. Unfortunately, facing diverse geographic, military or political challenges, these are the very times when it is most difficult to get essential food, water and other life essentials to those displaced and made homeless. Many times, these areas become inaccessible by damaged transportation infrastructure such as roads, ports and even airfields. Sometimes, especially during political strife, hostile parties may “block the way.” In the best of circumstances, it takes significant time for secure, large-scale bulk logistics efforts to distribute supplies “over the last mile.”
Finding a better way
Moved by the terrible conditions following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti in our own hemisphere, technology entrepreneur and former U.S. Marine Jeffrey Potter knew there had to be a better, more efficient way of quickly getting life-enhancing and life-saving supplies to those in need.
“We wanted to answer the questions: What can we do to help the affected until traditional aid arrives? How can we relieve the suffering? How can we save lives by distributing relief supplies within hours, while other methods are just beginning to build up capacity and overcome damaged infrastructure,” says Toledo, Ohio-based SkyLIFE Founder and CEO Potter, who has been the lead facilitator and/or inventor in more than one hundred US and foreign industrial utility patents.
The solution: SkyLIFE Technology’s patented aerodynamic packs that can deliver individual-size packages of food, water, first aid and hygiene supplies, blankets, personal shelters or even communication devices to those who are suffering, allowing them to survive until larger scale relief efforts arrive.
In its simplest form, SkyLIFE packages float through the air and drop safely in to the outstretched arms of the affected populations below. The packs are distributed over large areas, making them less likely to be hoarded or pilfered by gangs or warlords; plus they are safer than the more conventional heavy, pallet drops. Furthermore, SkyLIFE packs are buoyant in water and can be stored up to five years in anticipation of use in such disasters. Even the empty packs can be repurposed and burned for heat, producing virtually the same eco-friendly by-products as wood.
SkyLIFE solves its customer’s problems…
As Potter and his SkyLIFE team started researching the world of humanitarian aid, it became clear that sophisticated technology needed to play an important role not just in fabricating and delivering disaster relief supplies, but, also, for the critical role of delivering humanitarian relief supplies as part of prolonged campaigns.
During its study of the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) community, SkyLIFE visited the World Food Programme’s (WFP) operations in Juba, South Sudan. Here, SkyLIFE found sustained humanitarian assistance operations where fragile supplies, in particular, were unable to be delivered using larger cargo aircraft. Less than six weeks later, employing its extensive R&D and rapid prototyping methodologies, SkyLIFE engineers began testing a low-impact box/parachute system that could deliver these “undroppables,” along with other critical but fragile materials needed for subsistence. This Box Delivery System (BDS, but nicknamed the “Undroppables" box) is currently undergoing expanded testing, and is expected to reduce WFP’s annual costs for delivering critical volumes of vegetable oil by over $20 million dollars per year in South Sudan alone. “South Sudan was important in demonstrating our ability to work with humanitarian aid groups, analyze on-the-ground issues, and come up with a workable, cost-effective solutions,” Potter says.
SkyLIFE saves lives and reduces suffering
Going forward, SkyLIFE is committed to developing paradigm-shifting humanitarian relief technologies and delivery systems. In addition to its individual SkyLIFE packets and dispersible boxes (which enable delivery of packets from aircraft as small as a Cessna to large military cargo aircraft like the C-17 and C-130), SkyLIFE’s Box Delivery System is being tested for larger and more varied payloads.
Among its other initiatives, SkyLIFE is exploring pre-positioning its Remote Packing System (RPS) to manufacture completed aid packs in or near high-risk regions as well as in locations where major NGOs already have distribution warehouses. By stockpiling SkyLIFE relief packs built using local labor forces and incorporating payloads from regional vendors, emergency response agencies and organizations can be assured of being able to respond when their country most needs them.
“The images brought forth by a natural disaster or conflict of war can be quite disturbing. Through advanced technologies, we are working to diminish suffering and bring some order out of the chaos,” Potter says.