May 17, 2024
Amazon continues to work with community organizations to identify immediate needs in the Rio Grande do Sul. As families prepare to come home, Disaster Relief by Amazon has donated more than 20,000 cleaning and home restoration products to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Parceiros Voluntários to assist in the recovery process. This comes after we shipped an additional 5,000 kits with food and basic hygiene items to the Central Única das Favelas to be distributed to families in the city of Nova Santa Rita.
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Additionally, the region is facing a shortage of drinking water at homes, shelters, and supermarkets. We worked with NGO Associação Biosaneamento to donate 50 water filters. Each filter is capable of purifying more than 20,000 liters of water per day, enough to support approximately 6,500 people per day with safe and ready-to-drink water. The filters will be installed at strategic locations in the region, capable of supplying around 325,000 people with clean water per day, and can be used for 10 years. So far, our donations are supporting more than 8,500 families with the kits and another 325,000 people with drinking water in the affected regions.
May 9, 2024
In response to the state of emergency declared by the government of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Amazon has mobilized its global disaster relief program, which uses our logistical and technological resources to provide help to impacted communities.
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Through Disaster Relief by Amazon, we have made donations to two Brazilian international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—Ação da Cidadania and G10 Favelas—to provide food and critical relief items to more than 3,000 families affected by floods in the region. The donations include food, water filters, hygiene kits, and blankets. Additionally, Amazon volunteers are collecting additional relief supplies in São Paulo to donate to the local Red Cross. Amazon is also providing transport logistics support to deliver supplies to Rio Grande do Sul.
“In a state of emergency like the one Rio Grande do Sul is experiencing, we know that the first few hours and days are critical for communities to recover so we quickly mobilized our disaster relief program to meet the needs of those affected in the region,” said Daniel Mazini, country manager at Amazon Brazil.
A flooding city street in Brazil.Additionally, Amazon is also bringing its technology and expertise to support through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Disaster Response team. Specifically, AWS is working with Help.NGO, an international non-governmental organization and United Nations standby partner that specializes in emergency response, to support government teams that are working in the region. Together AWS and Help.NGO will help capture high-resolution images of the affected areas in order to help responding organizations support rescue operations. The images will also be analyzed by the government to assess additional needs, since it is possible to map areas on a large scale. Additionally, AWS and Help.NGO will help monitor equipment and personnel, which is vital to help ensure that responding teams are safe and efficiently coordinated.
Amazon employees in Sao Paulo helped the Red Cross sort through donations and get them ready for shipping to reach impacted communities.“AWS has been working from the outset with the state government and public institutions of Rio Grande do Sul to support with the migration of critical systems and support for the contingency plan with data protection, migration and geoprocessing, and image analysis solutions. We will also offer our full support to the government in its disaster recovery plans,” said Cleber Morais, director general of AWS for Latin America.
Amazon is actively evaluating additional ways to support communities affected by the flooding in the state and has suspended operations at its Fulfillment Center in Nova Santa Rita. The closure comes in response to the difficult road conditions and aims to prioritize the safety of those who work at the site. Operations at the site will resume when it is safe to do so. During this period, Amazon expects some delays in order deliveries throughout the region.
“The health and safety of our teams in Brazil are our priority, as is the support of the communities where we operate, which is why we are closely monitoring the evolution of the rains. We will resume operations only when we can help ensure everyone’s safety,” said Ricardo Pagani, director of Amazon Operations in Brazil.
Amazon will continue working with local authorities and organizations to identify additional needs, so we can act quickly to provide support.
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