Earthquake Relief Update

Almost 9 months after the South Asian earthquake that killed 80,000 people and left 3 million homeless, the New York Times reports the reconstruction effort is progressing slowly, too slowly considering monsoon season is less than a month away. There has been some progress, with many of the families at the camps returning home and receiving their cash reimbursements from the government. They are focusing on rebuilding rural homes first, then urban homes, and only then will they start to focus on public buildings such as hospitals and the needed 8,000 schools.



As many of you know, YOUR DIL's fall 2005 fundraiser focused on building schools for the children affected by the earthquake. As an update, we spent the past six months working with the temporary schools established for children in the relief camps and have now shifted our focus to building two permanent schools in Mansehra on the border between NWFP and Kashmir. These will be model schools with handicapped access (very important for the number of children injured in the earthquake), and computer labs. Approximately 400 children, all of whom come from the earthquake affected region, will attend. Thank you to all of you who came out to our Fall Gala and donated money, we want to make sure you know it is being put to good use, and we are starting to make a dent in the significant loss of educational facilities faced by the region.