On August 14, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, causing widespread devastation to the country’s infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools, roads, and bridges. Thousands of families are displaced, injured, and facing uncertainty as the loss of life continues to mount, and heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Grace further complicates relief efforts. Our thoughts are with all those impacted by the catastrophic earthquake.
To initially support relief efforts on the ground, Amazon’s disaster relief and response team has donated more than 59,000 emergency items such as shelter equipment (including tarps, tents, sleeping bags, hammers, utility gloves, ladders, and more), collapsible water containers, solar chargers, water filters, cleanup supplies, and medical equipment. Amazon will donate more relief supplies as community partners assess needs and request additional support.
Amazon is teaming up and coordinating donation efforts with its humanitarian community partners— Americares, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) Response, Global Empowerment Mission (a Good360 partner), Hope for Haiti, World Central Kitchen, and World Hope International—who will distribute the relief supplies to those in need in Haiti.
Supporting global communities by delivering relief
With the rise in extreme weather events and natural disasters around the world, rapid assistance and fast logistics are key to aiding global communities. Since 2017, Amazon has donated more than 15 million relief items in response to over 70 natural disasters around the world. The Amazon disaster relief and response team will continue to stand with communities and work with our global partners as natural disasters occur and help deliver relief where possible.
Amazon’s 2021 disaster relief and response efforts so far include donating and sending 2.8 million emergency items to help with on-the-ground relief efforts for the severe floods in Western Europe and New South Wales, Australia; wildfires in Turkey and Canada; a tornado in the Czech Republic; a volcano eruption in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; monsoon season in India; and the winter storms in Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. We also donated critical medical equipment to support hospitals and other COVID-19 care facilities across India, along with personal protective items to vulnerable communities in Nepal and Chile. In June, we opened Amazon’s first Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta for faster response to regions frequently impacted by natural disasters and pre-positioned over 500,000 relief items.
About Amazon Disaster Relief and Response
Amazon's disaster relief and response efforts leverage Amazon's vast operational excellence, innovative technologies, and global logistics network to provide fast and effective support to worldwide operations fighting large-scale natural disasters. Amazon has filled cargo jets and shipped truckloads of Amazon-donated items for communities ravaged by hurricanes, sent solar-powered lights to people living without power after tsunamis, enabled customers to easily donate products and cash on Amazon.com, and helped organizations including governments and nonprofits expedite response efforts through our Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services.
