Education and Outreach
The East-West Center remains committed to being actively involved in the recovery process and in maintaining the relationships established in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The State Institute for Islamic Studies Ar-Raniry
Soon after the tsunami disaster, EWC Education Program staff twice visited the Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Ar-Raniry (the State Institute for Islamic Studies Ar-Raniry) to expand the Center's relationship with the key Aceh Province educational institution, which was hard hit by the disaster. In July, the EWC signed a memorandum of understanding with the IAIN to provide English language training to enable junior faculty to take advantage of educational and research opportunities at the EWC and other institutions, as well as pledging to assist with rebuilding IAIN faculty, strengthening its research capability and library management, and providing library research support for junior faculty completing doctoral dissertations.
 Schools-Helping-Schools
This project, developed by the East-West Center's AsiaPacificEd Program, evolved through the joint efforts of the Center staff and a network of teachers who are former AsiaPacificEd participants. Their students from across the U.S. have raised funds to provide tuition, uniforms, books, supplies, and food for students in areas hard hit by the tsunami. The program aims to connect these students in partnerships that will support long-term recovery and fosters ties between cultures. An exchange program, in which 25 U.S. students will visit schools in Thailand while 25 of their Thai counterparts will spend three weeks in Honolulu, is in the works. This new program will focus, according to the EWC’s Namji Steinemann, “on the role of youth in building disaster-resilient communities.”
  Asia Pacific Leadership Program
In January 2005, APLP participants assisted with Thai Red Cross relief efforts during their Thailand and Laos Field Study. That spring, students from the APLP program together with their EWC colleagues formed a Global Village Team and raised funds to travel to Sri Lanka to assist with reconstruction efforts. With additional support from the EWC Tsunami Relief Fund, they purchased construction materials and worked alongside local families building homes in the village of Anuradhapura as part of a Habitat for Humanity project.
 The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC)
The Maui-based PDC, of which the East-West Center is the managing partner, provided an array of support to relief and recovery operations. PDC deployed staff to impacted regions of Indonesia and Thailand, launched a geospatial information service, and kept regional officials notified of potentially destructive earthquake aftershocks. The Maui-based also established Tsunami Response Map Viewers for the region. Subsequently, PDC is supporting regional reconstruction efforts by assisting in the development of national “multi-hazard” early warning centers. In November, the PDC signed a formal agreement with the government of Thailand’s Natural Disaster Warning Center to help develop the Thai Center’s early disaster warning platform. The Maui-based disaster experts have also recently completed a new Tsunami Awareness Kit that gives governments, businesses, educators, and the general public a framework in which to prepare for and recover from any future natural disasters.
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