Amazon mobilizes resources, technology in response to Hurricane Helene
Amazon’s efforts to aid communities affected by Hurricane Helene include providing supplies, rescue and relief efforts, and AI analysis.
The e-tail giant has activated its Disaster Relief Hub located near Atlanta to help more quickly aid natural disaster response for communities in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina impacted by severe wind and flooding damage from Helene.
[READ MORE: Amazon dedicates facility to storing emergency supplies]
"Extreme flooding poses a grave threat to communities across the Southeast right now," said Alice Shobe, global director of Amazon Community Impact, in a corporate blog post. "Amazon is using our logistics and technologies to support first responders who are helping families impacted by this devastating storm."
The Amazon disaster relief and response team is working with local partners and humanitarian organizations to deliver critical supplies to people in need. The e-tailer is leveraging its logistics infrastructure, inventory and emergency response teams.
In addition, Amazon is utilizing Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing capabilities to capture high-resolution aerial imagery of affected regions to assist rescue and relief operations on the ground. In coordination with disaster relief partners like American Red Cross, Operation BBQ Relief and World Central Kitchen, the company will ship Amazon-donated items such as water, tarps, diapers and personal hygiene kits as soon as possible from the more than 3 million relief items that are pre-positioned at the Atlanta facility.
Amazon makes internal adjustments due to Helene
Amazon has thousands of employees in communities affected by the storm and closed operations buildings in those areas. The company says it will continue to monitor the situation and take the necessary precautions to remain safe while supporting relief efforts and utilizing its national network of storage and delivery to fulfill customer orders from outside the affected region.
The retailer will adjust delivery estimates as needed due to the storm’s impact. Customers will see updated delivery times for their specific orders and can contact customer service for additional assistance.
Disaster Relief Hubs – a brief primer
The main purpose of what are now 14 global Disaster Relief Hubs is to enable the e-tail giant to use its logistics network to quickly send critical products to nonprofits and community partners in the wake of natural disasters.
The process of sending emergency supplies to disaster zones can take multiple days. To quicken that timeframe, Amazon analyzed its data across four years of disaster support and formed a pre-positioning strategy. The strategy is tailored to the most common relief supplies needed by the company’s community partners, including tarps, tents, water containers and filters, medical equipment, clothing items, and kitchen supplies.
Since 2017, Amazon says it has donated over 24 million relief items to support more than 160 disasters worldwide.
