September 12, 2023

AWS helps with humanitarian mapping

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Disaster Response team is helping to create a map of the impacted region in Morocco to assist in post-earthquake rescue efforts with Development Seed, an organization focused on using geospatial tools to make a positive impact on communities globally. The AWS Disaster Response team is funding professional mappers that will dedicate their time and expertise to mapping the earthquake-affected areas in Morocco on OpenStreetMap (OSM), and engaging Amazon employee volunteers to assist.

Employees in orange and yellow vests lift cargo supplies onto a Prime Air plane.
Disaster Relief and Response
Amazon’s disaster relief efforts utilise our global logistics capabilities to ship Amazon-donated items, and items donated by partners, to communities around the world as soon as possible after a natural disaster.
Read more

September 11, 2023

What Amazon is doing to help people impacted by the Morocco earthquake

Amazon is responding to the destructive earthquake in Morocco that killed thousands and left even more injured or without shelter, according to local officials. The 8 September earthquake happened late at night and was centered in the Atlas Mountains, North Africa, outside of Marrakech, Morocco. Amazon has a small number of employees in Morocco, all of whom are safe and accounted for.

Within hours of the earthquake, the Amazon Disaster Relief team started coordinating with international and local aid groups to identify relief needs for survivors. As relief workers on the ground are able to make these determinations, we will activate our global, regional, and local logistics and product donation networks to get support where it is most needed. We are already responding to a request from the High Atlas Foundation, a nonprofit in Morocco, to donate 4,000 emergency lights.

Volunteers at Amazon take part in Global Month of Volunteering
How Amazon and its employees are giving back for this year's Global Month of Volunteering
Amazon employees across the UK will help community groups to address issues from climate change and educational inequality, to food insecurity and disaster relief.
Read more

In addition to meeting ongoing product needs, Amazon also announced cash donations to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM); Banque Alimentaire, Morocco, food bank, which regularly supplies 200 organisations across Morocco; and the High Atlas Foundation.

Amazon has also activated an employee-giving campaign to allow Amazon employees from across the world to donate to relief efforts and is implementing the ability for many customers to donate directly to relief organisations through country-specific Amazon home pages in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Learn more about Disaster Relief by Amazon.