Marriott reopens three months after blast

The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad partially reopened on Sunday with a giant bombproof wall a
nd revamped security, more than three months after a massive suicide truck bombing devastated the building and killed over 50 people.

“Rising from ashes is not easy,” a poster on the hotel’s premises said. “We have expressed our resolve that we will not bow before the enemies of Pakistan,” Saddaruddin Hashwani, the hotel’s owner, said in his address at the event heralding the reopening. Calling his hotel “the home of Islamabad” and “the identity of Pakistan”, he said he had restored the building to restore Pakistan’s image.He also spoke about the security guards who prevented the explosives-laden truck from going past the main gate. “They will always be with us.”

Today at the site of the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, Marriott International executives presented a check for US $ 300,000 to the Hashoo Foundation, the philanthropic foundation of the hotel’s owning group, the Hashoo Group, to provide assistance to the families of employees impacted by the September 20, 2008 bombing and fire at the hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.

In the wake of this tragedy, Marriott employee’s worldwide showed their care and concern and sought out ways to help fellow employees and their families who were victims of the attack.