Amazon responding quickly and efficiently to provide disaster relief to storm-impacted communities

Amazon Disaster Relief and Response in coordination with Amazon Air and its fulfillment center in Tampa have moved to Florida a portion of supplies that was pre-positioned at the Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta to help relief organizations on the ground.

“The devastation caused by these storms has been both alarming and heartbreaking,” said Amazon’s Andre Woodson. “And that’s precisely why we mobilized Amazon’s Disaster Relief & Response team to support impacted communities.

“Following Milton’s impact, the temporary lack of fuel and debris cleanup process are impacting the transport of critical supplies to the storm-affected region, resulting in Amazon relying on its Air Network’s infrastructure in Northern Kentucky to take action to aid communities by deploying our resources to deliver essential items.”

Following the completion of shipment, Amazon Disaster Relief moved 100 pallets of Amazon-donated relief supplies, totaling more than 35,000 pounds of items, in this single flight from Amazon Air sites in Cincinnati to Lakeland, Fl.

Donated items include flood mitigation kits, tarps, water filtration systems, food distribution supplies, diapers of all sizes, baby wipes, hygiene kits, shelter kits, and more.

Additionally, Amazon, working with its local fulfillment center in Tampa, will provide a temporary bulk pickup location in the region to support the sorting and fast dispatch of pallets of donated relief supplies to organizations on the ground.

This effort helps ensure that nonprofit disaster relief partners, like the American Red Cross, Global Empowerment Mission, Golden Harvest Food Bank, Good360, Operation BBQ Relief, Save the Children and others, help Amazon deliver more than 40 truckloads of over 1.65 million essential items. These items support 21 relief organizations, with majority of items delivered within 72 hours of a request from Amazon’s Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta.

Amazon’s focus is to help community partners with what the company is uniquely good at first. This wouldn’t be possible without leveraging Amazon’s vast operational excellence, innovative technologies, and global logistics network, including its Northern Kentucky air hub, Woodson said, to provide fast and effective support to worldwide operations fighting large-scale natural disasters.

“Since 2017, Amazon Disaster Relief and Response has donated over 25 million relief items to support more than 170 disasters worldwide, including actively supporting wildfire-impacted communities in Chile, Colombia, and Maui,” said Woodson. “We’ve collaborated with nonprofits and armed them with needed resources to enhance their on-the-ground relief efforts.”

Amazon continues to support organizations across the impacted region with bulk product donations, doubling down on aiding organizations helping feed affected communities.

Amazon has delivered 12 truckloads of water and is in the process of delivering more to relief organizations. It is also donating truckloads of food distribution items and has helped establish six large-scale emergency field kitchens by providing refrigerated trailers to help preserve the perishable food being cooked.

Amazon pre-positions essential supplies across 14 Global Disaster Relief Hubs to be ready to be dispatched by plane or truck, packed exactly as our partners require.

There are more than 3 million relief items pre-positioned at our Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta which is supporting Helene and Milton response efforts.

“Not many companies that have Amazon’s logistics infrastructure, global inventory, and technology,” said Woodson. “We have mobilized all of these assets to support communities impacted by Helene and Milton to support immediate relief efforts and lay groundwork for long-term recovery.”

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