Case Study 8: Teacher Trained in Preparedness Saves Lives

A collapsed school, Ghari Habibullah CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan

On the morning of October 8, 2005, Amir Noshad, a teacher in the Government Primary School, Hanjo, was in his classroom as per usual routine. When the devastating earthquake struck, he was in the classroom teaching. Amir had attended the Disaster Preparedness Training conducted by Church World Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan. He says that it was because of the training he received that he was able to respond to the earthquake in an effective manner. Recalling the learnings from the training, Amir instantly planned an evacuation in his mind, and had the whole plan set before he acted.

He immediately told his students to evacuate the room and run to the exit doors. His main focus being on the smaller children, he directed the older students to give way to the younger children and help them in running. Secondly, he assisted those children who were unable to run in this emergency.

He was thankful to CWS that he was able to chalkout the plan first; he had established a frame of mind before acting and had set the instructions. Amir told the CWS team that his learnings were fruitful as he managed to save all the students!

After saving the children of his school, Amir went to Kot Galla to help others and saved a number of lives there as well. He said that his priority was to focus on children, old-aged people, and people with special needs. With the help of other people, Amir was able to save 40 people from the disaster, and he says that it was possible only because of the training he had received. Amir says that his father’s name is Shir Ali, and he, too, attended one of the trainings conducted by CWS, and he was also able to save many lives.

Recalling his learnings, Amir also brought dry food in for his family for survival. He says that currently his house is damaged and they need more food to survive. He appreciates the effort being carried out by CWS, both in terms of conducting such effective trainings and in the current relief work that CWS is doing after the tragic disaster.

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