In the immediate aftermath of the Kermanshah earthquake, the Government of Iran and the Iranian Red Crescent Society responded quickly to the emergency, providing for residents’ most immediate needs. However, when the full extent of the damage was unearthed, the Government of Iran called for international organizations to provide longer-term assistance to support the recovery of earthquake-affected communities.

Relief International’s response efforts focused on Kermanshah, the site of the earthquake’s epicenter where the greatest devastation, injuries, and deaths occurred. The cities of Sarpol-e-Zahab and Qasr-e-Shirin bore the brunt of the damage with large-scale destruction. In the city of Sarpol-e-Zahab, the quake destroyed half of the city’s schools.

With the generous support of Google and its employees, Relief International teams began to reconstruct two schools in the villages of Qabqoli and Bibiyani in Kermanshah, which were levelled by the quake. Construction commenced on the two-room school in Bibiyani village on July 11, 2018 and shortly afterwards, our teams broke ground on the six-classroom school in Qabqoli village on July 18, 2018.

In addition to the schools’ construction, our teams also built a playground at each school for young Iranian children who may have been traumatized during the quake. Each playground includes aspects that are disability-accessible to ensure children who may have been injured in the earthquake can participate.

The construction of these schools is best shared in pictures, which we received from our teams on the ground in Iran.