Earthquakes, hurricanes and natural disasters destroy schools all over the world.The process of rebuilding a school or creating a new school can take many years and be very inefficient. Local education authorities in devastated areas need a reliable source for new schools in times of disaster in order to rebuild schools in a timely manner and with more efficiency  

EduCrate Learning Centers are created in recycled shipping containers re-purposed as powerful learning environments and efficiently delivered anywhere in the world. EduCrate Learning Centers can be customized in response to the needs of local educational authorities and can include, for example, desks and chairs, computers, generators, bathrooms, water stations and medical support.

These classrooms, called, “EduCrate Learning Centers” are a worldwide solution to constructing new or rebuilding old schools more efficiently.

EduCrate wants to provide new classrooms made out of shipping containers to the wonderful people of Haiti. We are well aware that the devastation caused by the earthquake has set back plans internally for education, and that one survey has estimated that close to half of the population has food insecurity.

UNICEF

Recently UNICEF has and the World Food Programme have made several commitments to Haiti:

To allow children living in remote areas to have access to education, UNICEF has initiated discussions with authorities to support the opening of schools in sub communal sections that have no public schools or no schools at all. UNICEF is well aware that access to education also includes developing a well-managed school network that offers quality teaching to students. The agency is supporting teacher's training and the strengthening of basic academic teachings especially during the first years of schooling.

Update from City

May 27, 2011

Update on various items from the City of Joplin:

Search and Rescue continues. Working with search dog teams. Over 600 volunteers and over 50 dog teams working today.

Fatality Count: 132

All residents affected by storm should register with FEMA. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has announced that individuals and business owners whose property has been damaged as a result of the tornado can now apply for assistance in one of three ways: 1) Call 800-621-FEMA (3362)

2) Register online at www.disasterassistance.gov

3) By smart phone at m.FEMA.gov

FEMA has established a Disaster Recovery Center at the First United Methodist Church on 4th and Byers. FEMA reps will be on hand to walk people thru the FEMA paper work for disaster assistance. Or contact 800-621-FEMA (3362).

Officials request that you have the following information available when you call: • Address of the damaged property

• Social Security number

• Current mailing address

• Brief description of damages

• Insurance information (if you have insurance)

• Income and bank account information To file a missing persons report, please call 417-659-5464. To add your name to the found persons list, please call 417-895-6868. Please be patient, phones have been busy.

The Joplin Municipal Court (JMC) will be closed from May the 30th through June the 3rd. Individuals seeking information on their next court date may contact JMC at 417-624-0820 ext 230. Their office hours are 8 am to 5 pm.

Animal Adoption and Resource Center, the Humane Society of Missouri (ASPCA) reunited 64 animals with their owners and retrieved 314 animals on May 26th.

EduCrate™ Quick Relief Classrooms are modular structures that have been customized for use as temporary schools in disaster/conflict areas and can also be used as community resource centers to locate and unite missing or displaced people. The EduCrate Quick Relief Classroom is the quickest, strongest and safest solution for communities that have suffered from natural disasters or are living in conflict zones.

New school year delayed in Japan disaster zone

By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura (AFP) – 1 day ago

KESENNUMA, Japan — As the new school year starts in Japan, students across the country are returning to class. But along the tsunami-smashed northeast coast, many no longer have schools to go to. Education is enormously important to Japanese people, many of whom believe that reopening schools will allow those living in areas ravaged by Japan's worst disaster since World War II to return to some semblance of normality. But in many places, that is simply not possible. In worst-hit Miyagi prefecture, around 80 percent of schools were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed. Others have been transformed into emergency shelters for the tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed when a huge wall of water barrelled into the northern coast of Japan, all but wiping out entire towns and villages. The cost of the damage to the education system, currently estimated at 77 billion yen ($910 million) for Miyagi, is certain to rise, he said. "Just because classes begin does not mean that schools have recovered," he said. "It will take several years just to return to conditions before the disaster."

EduCrates are ready-to-use portable classrooms in shipping containers delivered anywhere in the world. The Quick Relief Classroom can be delivered within 10 days and the EduCrate Modular Classroom can be delivered within three months of calling! Interruptions of children's education is unacceptable and we provide a timely solution that restores education hope.

We provide a solution in compliance with the International Rescue Committee’s Minimum Standards for Education Emergencies for re-establishing educationally displaced children back into safe, comfortable, and appropriate learning environments as quickly as possible – and we are ready to partner with organizations around the world to accomplish this goal. 

One month ago, a natural earthquake set off a Tsunami and sent millions of gallons of water rolling into Japan's northeast coast. Caught by the suddent change in an otherwise peaceful sea, the citizens of Sendai region scrambled for higher ground, dryer land, and an uncertain future. As the New York Times reports:

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, churning up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country and set off warnings as far away the west coast of the United States and South America. Recorded as 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful quake ever to hit the country. As the nation struggled with a rescue effort, it also faced the worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl; explosions and leaks of radioactive gas took place in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that suffered partial meltdowns, while spent fuel rods at another reactor overheated and caught fire, releasing radioactive material directly into the atmosphere. Japanese officials turned to increasingly desperate measures, as traces of radiation were found in Tokyo's water and in water pouring from the reactors into the ocean. A month after the quake, nuclear officials put the crisis in the same category of severity as the Chernobyl disaster.

 

Our hearts go out to all of the people in Japan. From the estimated 350,000 who have lost their homes to the rest of the country who struggle even now to make sense of this natural disaster.

Even before the earthquake, In 2009, Hope for Haiti built a five classroom school for the community of Grand Sable. The new Ecole du St. Espirit provides free education to 150 impoverished children.   Although the new school has increased enrollment by nearly fivefold, over 100 children were not able to attend the school once it reached full capacity.  In order to provide an education to these children an additional five classrooms will be added to the school accommodating 300 children in total. Support a child's education by contributing to Hope for Haiti!

HAITI is in SUCH NEED! IF YOU CAN, HELP NOW! The SchoolWorks Lab invented EduCrate to help countries like Haiti. We are a mission-driven, caring organizationwhose primary concern is restoring education hope.

Wewant to geteducationally displaced children back into safe, comfortable, andappropriate learning environments – as quickly as possible, and we areready to partner with organizations around the world to accomplish thisgoal.

Contact us at: Robert A. Southworth, Jr., Ed.D., President, TheSchoolWorks Lab, Inc., 12 1/2 Bedford Street, New York, NY 10014, 212-768-7800, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The SchoolWorks Lab, Inc., a New York City-based non-profit education research organization, is seeking funding for an initiative called EduCrate – a  “school-in-a-box” program that will help communities in crisis across the world to quickly and easily supplement or restore K-12 education services. 

EduCrates are ready-to-use portable classrooms in shipping containers delivered anywhere in the world within three months of calling! Interruptions of children's education is unacceptable and we provide a timely solution that restores education hope.

For example, school shortages in Tanzania, hurricane-stricken Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, tsunami-afflicted South East Asia, and earthquake-damaged Pakistan all need fast and reliable restoration of essential services such as food, housing, and education. Additionally, remote rural communities here in the United States and in under-developed countries abroad need cost-effective methods for delivering basic education services.

 CNN reports that 55 public schools are now open in New Orleans, with about 27,400 students, or less than half the pre-Katrina enrollment (Jan 24, 2007). Unfortunately, the schools are very run down with attendance ebbing and flowing like the tide. "We have got to make a difference in the lives of children who have survived the hurricane only to be slowly injured by the lack of resolve to provide hope through education," says educator Rob Southworth who has invented the EduCrate portable classroom. "We have to find the will power to provide more schools and teachers. EduCrate is uniquely positioned to help these survivors become children again."

EduCrate classrooms are made from recycled shipping containers, and they come complete with doors and windows, heating and air conditioning, chairs and tables, black or whiteboards, classroom supplies, and up to 25 backpacks that are filled with notebooks and other essential student school supplies (see Contents).  The EduCrate can be customized for use as a science lab or an art room, and an array of upgrade options are available, including installed restrooms, electric generators, and wireless computer networks.  We can even send support personnel (teachers and professional development staff) and replacement curriculum materials, if needed (see Options).

Our crisis management solutions are research-based (see  References), and they comply with the International Rescue Committee’s Minimum Standards for Education Emergencies (see Minimum Standards).  Most importantly, though, we are a mission-driven, caring organization whose primary concern is not turning a profit.  We want to get educationally displaced children back into safe, comfortable, and appropriate learning environments – as quickly as possible, and we are ready to partner with organizations around the world to accomplish this goal.