Houses and schools built with poor-quality bricks or concrete blocks are likely to collapse during natural disasters. Better bricks and concrete blocks make safer houses and schools.
We provide on-the-job training for small businesses that manufacture bricks and blocks to improve the quality of their products. We also offer business skills training in management, budgeting, and more efficient manufacturing techniques.
We conduct public outreach to encourage local communities to use these safer building materials.
To keep children occupied while their parents learned about safe building techniques and better brickmaking at this event, we held coloring, drawing, and writing contests.
Little 8-year-old Fatimatuz wrote about her experience in the 2013 earthquake that destroyed her home:
“My younger sister and I were playing a cooking game, and the earthquake happened. We ran to the door, but we could not open it, fortunately then my father carried both of us outside. After that we set up a tent. I have to be strong. It is really fun to sleep in the tent. There are 7 people who live in it.”