Disaster Relief, Economic Development, Poverty

China
Haiti
Indonesia

Additional Background Information: Millions of people in developing countries live with the constant threat of death or injury from earthquakes. In the past five years, over 4 million were made homeless by earthquakes, over 99% of them in developing countries. In the developed world, we have the knowledge and technology to build disaster-resistant structures. But in the developing world, that knowledge and technology is beyond the reach of the average person.

Build Change believes that, in the absence of building standard enforcement, the only way to bring about long-term change in building practices is to develop and promote building methods that are competitive in cost with common (but vulnerable) methods, easy to implement and accepted by the local population. Local Partners: Mercy Corps, Cordaid, J/P HRO, , Oxfam International, CARE International, CHF International, Swiss Labour Assistance, Save the Children, Architecture for Humanity, UNOPS, USAID. Additional Affiliations: Schwab Foundation (2011), Clinton Global Initiative (2010 & 2011), Echoing Green (2004), Draper Richards Foundation (2006), and Ashoka-Lemelson (2009). Build Change has affiliations with local non-profits, universities, private construction companies, and government institutions around the world.