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Amazon Drone Support in Disasters

Drones are not just for situational awareness in disasters

It is possible that drones delivering goods to people's homes could also be used to provide situational awareness to government agencies like emergency management.

However, Amazon is looking at going beyond that to potentially using a mobile drone port to provide disaster relief supplies following an incident. Check out Mobile Hubs for Drone Delivery.It is a rail option in the diagram, but it could also be performed from semi-truck trailers. In their patent application, Amazon put it this way; "When a particular area is experiencing a lengthy spell of good weather, a national championship by a local sports team, a natural disaster, or other unique event, demand for items within the area ..."

Don't limit your thinking about the use of drones; Amazon is not.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.