Amazon unveiled plans to open its first disaster relief hub to help store emergency supplies for front-line workers ahead of hurricane season in the southeast, the Caribbean, and Central America.
The company announced the opening of the hub in Atlanta on Tuesday, which will stock more than a half-million donated relief supplies to prepare for natural disasters.
“We’ve created the Disaster Relief Hub in metro Atlanta to provide rapid relief when it’s needed most by donating and delivering hundreds of thousands of emergency aid supplies, including shelter materials like tents and tarps, hygiene items, and medical equipment,” Alicia Boler Davis, the vice president of Global Customer Fulfillment at Amazon, said in a statement.
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The disaster relief hub will initially support six global humanitarian aid organizations, including the American Red Cross, Direct Relief, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and World Central Kitchen.
The idea to create a relief hub reportedly sparked from a letter written to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos from a Louisiana resident who raised concerns during flooding that the state experienced in 2016.
“Jeff Bezos actually received a letter from somebody in Louisiana in 2016 when floods hit and said, ‘Amazon is the best at getting stuff into the most remote areas of the United States, how can you help us get supplies here?’ That was really the vision I had. We can reach even the most rural communities, we have transportation methods to get there,” said Bettina Stix, the director of disaster relief at Amazon, according to CNN.
The Atlantic hurricane season will extend from June 1 through Nov. 30.
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Weather experts say they don’t anticipate the historic level of storm activity that was present in 2020, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
