Amazon to provide 2,000 free rapid response technology systems that restore critical services in minutes

Key takeaways Amazon will provide more than 2,000 rapid response technology systems to nonprofit partners at no cost by 2027—a 50x expansion from 42 systems delivered last year. Each one restores a critical service (power, connectivity, or clean water) in a system one person can carry and set up in minutes.

The 10+ configurations include satellite-powered Wi-Fi, solar microgrids, water purification, terrain-mapping drones, and drone-detection technology—capabilities that typically cost agencies $40,000 to $250,000 each. More than 800 systems ship this hurricane season from Amazon’s Tennessee hub.

After each disaster response, systems return to Amazon for refurbishment and reuse across multiple communities and events.

When Hurricane Melissa tore the roof off Cornwall Regional Hospital in Jamaica last October and cut all power and cell service, Amazon’s rapid response technology arrived on a small cargo plane and restored satellite Wi-Fi and solar electricity to the hospital within minutes.

Now Amazon is scaling that technology—making more than 2,000 systems available to nonprofit partners at no cost by 2027, up from 42 delivered last year.

When a disaster strikes, the technology will be ready to go to five nonprofits at the center of recovery: the American Red Cross, World Central Kitchen, Footprint Project, Information Technology Disaster Resource Center, and Operation BBQ Relief.

Each system is self-contained and portable, restoring a single critical service when power, water, or cell service fails after a hurricane, wildfire, or other natural disaster. One produces clean drinking water from a contaminated source. Another uses drones to map dangerous terrain and locate survivors. Another stands up a satellite-powered Wi-Fi network.

Others provide solar energy, charge medical devices, or power food-service operations. There are more than 10 configurations, each small enough for one person to carry and set up within minutes of arrival. I lead Amazon's disaster relief team. Here's how we deliver supplies within hours globally.

Abe Diaz shares how his team helps communities after hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters. The technology is reusable. After a disaster response ends, nonprofits ship systems back to Amazon for inspection, refurbishment, and restocking.

A single system serves multiple communities across multiple disasters, which extends the technology’s reach and sustainability. “A single person can carry this technology into a community after a disaster and restore hospital-grade connectivity in under 10 minutes,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst.

“That capability didn’t exist at this scale before. We built it because communities shouldn’t have to wait weeks for basic services to come back when we have the logistics network and technology to close that gap in hours.”

The technology expansion adds to Amazon's broader disaster relief program, which has donated and delivered more than 26 million emergency supplies —tarps, blankets, diapers, water, solar batteries—to communities affected by more than 200 natural disasters since 2017.

That program uses Amazon's global delivery network to move critical supplies to affected communities within hours, at no cost to them.

How Amazon's rapid response technology speeds recovery When disasters knock out power and cell service, restoration can take weeks—leaving hospitals unable to coordinate care, shelters unable to power devices, and families cut off from emergency information.

Traditional relief addresses immediate physical needs but does little to restore the systems communities depend on to function. The technology that does exist is often out of reach. During the Los Angeles wildfires, unauthorized drones interfered with firefighting aircraft.

Agencies like Cal Fire use drone-detection systems costing $40,000 to $250,000—but volunteer fire departments staffed by local residents cannot afford them. Amazon built drone-tracking capabilities into its rapid response technology systems so local agencies can locate unauthorized aircraft and prevent collisions, at no cost.

Amazon assessed needs across recent disasters and built the technology to address these gaps at scale, putting capabilities that would otherwise cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into the hands of nonprofits and first responders at no cost.

How Amazon’s rapid response technology restored a hospital in hours Amazon volunteers load rapid response technology systems into a cargo plane bound for Kingston, Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa caused widespread devastation.

When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica last October as a Category 5 storm, it tore the roof off Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay and cut off electricity and cell service. Hospital leaders had no way to coordinate care for critical patients.

Amazon worked with the Information Technology Disaster Resource Center and Footprint Project to establish satellite connectivity and so