How Amazon is helping employees, communities, and customers during Hurricane Idalia

September 6, 2023

Disaster Relief by Amazon continues to assist Floridians with donated goods, logistics support, and technology for communities affected by Hurricane Idalia. So far, Amazon has donated more than 275,000 relief items, including hygiene kits, batteries, baby formula, diapers, flashlights, canned food, generators, chain saws, and air conditioners. To meet one of the most immediate needs, we’ve sent more than 150,000 water bottles to families who need clean drinking water. We are working with local and national groups like the Madison County Foundation for Excellence in Education, Jefferson Outreach for Youth, Kiwanis clubs, International Medical Corps, American Red Cross, Second Harvest, and Feeding America to get supplies in the hands of those who need them through either direct product donations or gift cards. As communities recover from the disaster and begin to rebuild, we’re supporting their efforts by partnering with the American Logistics Aid Network to provide transportation support for 52 pallets of flood clean-up kits to the most impacted areas.

I’ve helped Amazon deliver more than 23 million disaster relief items around the world. Here’s an inside look at how we respond when disaster strikes.

Abe Diaz, principal technical product manager for Disaster Relief by Amazon, shares how his team helps communities after hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters.

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September 6, 2023

The AWS Disaster Response began arriving in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday, September 1 to assess technological needs for Hurricane Idalia response efforts. Working together with response organizations including Operation BBQ Relief, Information Technology Disaster Resource Center, and Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team, AWS Disaster Response is supporting the cloud computing and communications needs of these organizations.

During response activities for Hurricane Idalia, the AWS Disaster Response team piloted a new solution, Scanner Managed Operations for Kitchen Efficiency (SMOKE), that they developed with Operation BBQ Relief—a nonprofit that feeds communities in the wake of disasters—which scans and tracks meals, so that the organization knows the location of food items during response operations, and can direct them across a radius of over 100 miles from the Emergency Operations Center in Live Oak, Florida. Less than four weeks before Hurricane Idalia, the team hosted a hackathon with Operation BBQ Relief, with the goal of innovating a solution that would help them better understand where food is needed during last mile delivery (based on current onsite demands) to ensure fast, efficient delivery of meals and less food waste.

With help from AWS, Operation BBQ Relief delivered over 30,000 meals each day over the Labor Day holiday weekend to affected communities in Florida, increasing efficiency by ensuring food can be re-directed from sites with less demand to sites with more demand with dynamic understanding of where food materials are at all times, and community needs at each site they serve.

Operation BBQ Relief continues to serve communities impacted by Hurricane Idalia and is looking for additional volunteers to help. Anyone who is looking to help can easily register to volunteer.

August 31, 2022

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Disaster Response team is mobilizing to support communities in Florida impacted by Hurricane Idalia. The team is shipping response technology and equipment, including two disaster response vehicles, to a nearby Amazon fulfillment Center. The AWS Disaster Response team will be sending team members to receive the equipment and will be on standby to respond quickly once the storm passes through the region.

The team is engaging with Operation BBQ Relief, a nonprofit bringing food in times of need; Verizon; the Information Technology Disaster Resource Center; and local organizations to coordinate response efforts.

August 30, 2022

Amazon has been closely monitoring Hurricane Idalia’s path and preparing our operations for the impact that this storm might have. In these situations, we have three main goals:

First, we prioritize the health and safety of all our teams. From employees in our fulfillment centers to delivery partners, our number one priority is keeping everyone safe.

Second, we put the mechanisms in place to resume deliveries when it is safe to do so and to inform our customers in the area about any potential delays in their shipments. We know that when disasters occur, many customers rely on Amazon for essential items if local availability drops due to a surge in demand.

Finally, we mobilize our infrastructure, inventory, and technology to support the communities impacted by these events. We work with dozens of organizations to donate products and use our logistics capabilities and AWS cloud technology to support relief efforts.

Amazon already has taken the following steps in anticipation of Hurricane Idalia:

Making sure our employees are safe is our number one priority. Amazon has thousands of employees in the path of the storm, and we’ve taken the following measures to help keep everyone safe:

• Amazon has a 24/7 operation dedicated to providing alerts when severe weather events are expected.
  
• We have a chief meteorologist on staff who works with a team to create weather-informed warnings for our employees and partners around the world by analyzing weather conditions and identifying hazards, risks, vulnerabilities, and exposure.
  
• Once a severe weather alert is flagged, we prepare activities and a timeline to act. Through this system, we’re able to communicate directly with sites and drivers when severe weather may impact them and make sure they are able to take the necessary precautions to remain safe.

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With the temporary closing of some Amazon facilities, and likely damage to roads and other infrastructure, there may be impacts to customers in the region:

• We will utilize our national network of storage and delivery to fulfill customer orders from outside the affected region.
  
• We will adjust delivery estimates as the storm’s impact becomes clearer, so customers can have the most accurate information regarding when their packages will arrive. Customers will see updated delivery times for their specific orders and are encouraged to contact our 24/7 Customer Service teams for additional assistance.

We’ve started to mobilize our global logistics infrastructure, inventory, teams, and technology to be ready to assist communities—quickly:

• Amazon has trailers standing by and ready at our Disaster Relief Hub outside of Atlanta. Right now, we are in close contact with our disaster partners like the American Red Cross, Americares, World Central Kitchen, and others and will ship Amazon-donated items such as tarps, diapers, sheltering equipment, and water filters as soon as possible from the more than 3 million relief items that are pre-positioned and ready to go.
  
• Along with dozens of other partners, Amazon is participating in the Florida Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (FLVOAD) calls and coordination. FLVOAD is composed of organizations preparing to help with hurricane response and closely coordinating across the private, public, and nonprofit sector.

Learn more about Disaster Relief by Amazon.