2003
True to the “learn first” part of the Build Change model: Elizabeth spends a year in India on a Fulbright Fellowship studying and assisting with the post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Gujarat, and visiting areas hit by the 1993 Killari (Maharashtra) earthquake and the 1999 Chamoli (Uttaranchal) earthquake.
January 26, 2001
Mw=7.7 earthquake in Kachchh near Bhuj, Gujarat, India kills over 20,000 people and destroys over 400,000 homes. It got Elizabeth’s attention: why do so many people die when an earthquake happens in a developing country? It’s not the earthquake that kills people, it’s the collapse of a poorly built building. A man-made problem with a man-made solution. So it started as an engineering challenge and a social justice issue: everyone deserves the right to a safe house.
May 2014
David Friedman join the Build Change board of directors.
October 2013
Martin Fisher, Co-Founder and CEO of KickStart and chair of the Build Change board of directors, hands the chair over to Paul VanderMarck.