Earthquake relief progress

Pakistan experienced a severe earthquake (7.6 Richter) in October 2005 for which many people at the International School of Islamabad (ISOI) have raised funds to rebuild schools.

I led various projects to benefit the village of Siana in the Kashmir region, starting a month after the earthquake and finishing two years later. Our school organized immediate winter supplies donations through fund raising and UNICEF. We gathered information on each trip and brought our students and staff to work with the residents and school children of this town. However, we never accomplished our larger goal of building a school in this community. It was too ambitious of a project to start construction in this isolated village for a number of reasons.

Later, ISOI decided to seek to give our accumulated funding to organizations with experience and current projects in Kashmir. The recipient of our funding has now been confirmed to be the Central Asia Institute of Three Cups of Tea fame.

I wish we could of aided our original site of earthquake relief with a school, but I'm glad that Kashmir will still benefit from the local and international efforts of so many people. To see what ISOI accomplished in the first year of earthquake relief, visit YouTube or Flickr. To inquire about the current efforts, email the school - school@isoi.edu.pk

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Subject: Donation to CAI for Earthquake Region
Hello [Superintendent],
It was wonderful to sit down and meet with you and [Current relief coordinator] yesterday to discuss future collaborations. I am excited to continue this conversation at the beginning of next school year. Until then, I will discuss these ideas with the principal of the main CAI school in Azad Kashmir to identify the greatest areas of need that ISOI teachers and students could help with.
Thank you for the incredible donation check of 69,000 USD. I know it was a bit over that amount, but I sent the check straight to our home office... sorry not to have the exact amount. It should be deposited by early next week and we will immediately begin investing it in the rebuilding process of the earthquake region. This amount will be able to fund the building of two school: a primary school with 6 classrooms and a middle school with 9 classrooms. (For confidentiality we will need to keep the village and school names out of publications.) The schools will include a boundary wall, latrines, furniture and some school supplies (notebooks and pencils) for one school year. Each school will provide an education for at least 100 girls, most likely up to 200 girls after a few years.
All my best and good luck wrapping up the semester. I will be in touch soon with photos on the projects in Azad Kashmir.
[Name deleted]
International Program Manager
Central Asia Institute
[Email deleted]
www.ikat.org