The extreme floods in Assam affected thousands of families, calling for immediate support and humanitarian assistance. As heavy rains continue to displace millions of people, there is a massive shortage of food, water, medical aid, and essentials. Post a rapid needs assessment, Amazon's Disaster Relief initiative has been quick to extend real-time support.
Amazon has been working on "pre-positioning" thousands of relief kits across different geographies in India to ensure that relief materials reach affected communities at the earliest in an emergency (typically 48-72 hours from activating our response). The kits are then mobilized and deployed to the affected districts leveraging Amazon Shipping's expertise with critical logistics operations. Each kit contains essential non-food items that can be stored ahead of a disaster, such as tarpaulin sheets, mosquito nets, a bucket, and hygiene and sanitary products. These items are essential for families temporarily evacuating their homes during disasters like floods.
In order to enable donations towards relief efforts, Amazon Pay has partnered with two NGOs, Give India and Milaap (donations through Amazon Pay on Amazon.in app), as the exclusive payment partner.
When Amazon received early reports of flooding across Biswanath, Nagaon, Karimganj, Cachar, and Darrang in May, the company partnered with a network of on-ground NGOs, including The Centre for Catalyzing Change and Donatekart Foundation, and deployed over 1,740 food kits to impacted communities. As reports of flooding worsened towards the end of June, Amazon activated Phase 2 of its disaster response and deployed over 1,800 pre-positioned relief kits from Faridabad to Guwahati and then onwards to Morigaon district. Over 2,000 additional food kits with ration supplies and ready-to-eat items were procured and distributed to impacted communities. The second phase concluded on July 10 and collectively reached 5,600 families. All of Amazon's community relief operations work through close partnerships with multiple on-ground NGOs and volunteers, including BoscoNet and Care India.
Over the last two years, Amazon India's Disaster Relief initiative has supported multiple disasters. In the previous year, the response included floods in Chennai (November 2021), Uttarakhand (Oct 2021), Maharashtra and Goa (June 2021), and Cyclone Tauktae in Gujarat (May 2021). The largest disaster response in terms of sheer scale was during the second COVID-19 wave in 2021. The company delivered over 10,000 critical oxygen and related medical equipment to 450+ hospitals across the country, with its logistics deployed to support as a philanthropic arm.
As this initiative scales, Amazon is looking to collaborate with local NGO networks, other corporate and charitable donors, and local government stakeholders who are critical partners at the last mile. Globally, disaster relief continues to remain a priority, with the Disaster Relief Hub in Atlanta, USA, now doubled in capacity in 2022 – with 1 million critical relief supplies donated and ready to ship to communities for the 2022 hurricane season alone.
Given Amazon’s focus on communities and the fact that our operations network services every single postcode in the country, we are uniquely positioned to help communities impacted by disasters rebuild life by providing immediate relief in the most time-efficient manner. We are keen to extend support to the Government’s disaster relief efforts across the country and understand how to build more systemic interventions on resilience.
Amazon is keen to extend support to the Government's disaster relief efforts across the country and understand how to build more systemic interventions on resilience.
