The original UNHRD depot was inaugurated in the year 2000 to replace the Humanitarian Depot in Pisa, then managed by the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Upon decision of the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) the mandate to provide rapid and accessible stockpiling and demobilisation services to partners inside and outside the United Nations was transferred from OCHA to WFP. Subsequently, the hub was moved to the military airport at Brindisi in an effort to set up a new and robust logistics platform, available to all partners as a “shared resource”.

In 2006, based on its own requirements and that of its partners, WFP replicated the successful Brindisi model by setting up further emergency response facilities in strategic locations worldwide, creating a network of HRDs in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and Latin America. Each of these locations has been selected to provide easy access to an airport, port and road systems, making access to a wide range of transportation methods available and allowing for consistently low response times of 24-48 hours.