With hurricane season officially underway, Amazon on Tuesday announced the opening of its first Disaster Relief Hub, a facility in metro Atlanta storing emergency supplies.
The hub will stock more than half a million Amazon-donated relief supplies in 10,000 cubic feet of fulfillment center space, enough to fill an Amazon Air 767 cargo plane.
“Our disaster relief and response team is partnering with global humanitarian relief organizations to leverage Amazon’s scale to help improve response time to large-scale natural disasters around the world,” said Alicia Boler Davis, vice president of global customer fulfillment at Amazon. “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.”
Atlanta’s close proximity to the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean and Central America was a factor in determining the facility’s location, Davis said.
The Disaster Relief Hub will initially support six global humanitarian aid organizations: 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.
“Amazon’s commitment to disaster relief and preparedness aligns with our mission to help disaster survivors,” said Trevor Riggen, senior vice president of disaster cycle services at the American Red Cross. “In order to fulfill this mission, we must have stocked warehouses, trained volunteers, and state-of-the-art systems in place. Amazon’s donation of critical relief supplies and advance pre-positioning efforts allows the Red Cross to stand ready to help at a moment’s notice.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting another above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters predict a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season and a 10% chance of a below-normal season.
However, experts do not anticipate the historic level of storm activity seen in 2020.
For 2021, a likely range of 13 to 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which six to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including three to five major hurricanes (categories three to five, with winds of 111 mph or higher) is expected.
The Atlantic hurricane season extends from June 1 through Nov. 30.
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