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Nature's Fury
One year on: photographs of the earthquake in Pakistan by Shahidul Alam

Shahidul Alam visited Pakistan immediately after the devastating earthquake in October 2005. The award-winning Bangladeshi photographer returned to the country one year later to see how life has changed for the people affected by the disaster.

From 5th October - 31st December 2006 Nature's Fury will be at the Royal London Hospital in East London.

(Click on image to enlarge and hover to see a caption)

Before the earthquake we were happy, healthy people, says Fazila Bibi, "the sort of people who gave to beggars. Now we have nothing, and we must do with nothing, but we are stronger people." Shazia Abbasi, her 7 month old daughter, Alishta, her mother and her mother-in-law in Shazias house near Muzaffarabad. Shazia lost her husband and 6 year old daughter in the earthquake in October 2005. Her house was also damaged and Concern Worldwide provided her with a tent, mattresses, food and water. A child in Serena valley stands outside the ruins of his home. Concern Worldwide runs a school for children in the area. Abid Hussains house collapsed on him, where ne now stands, injuring him and killing three of his four children Aftershocks are a regular occurence in Azad Kashmir. Cracks that have developed in the ground collect rain water, further weakening the soil, leading to landslides. After the earthquake destroyed his house, Abid Hussain came with his wife Samina and only surviving child Shahzeb, 4, to live in a tent with his relations in Jagar, 15 kilometres from Balakot Sisters Bibi and Taiba played together all the time. Taiba was killed in the earthquake. Khurshid Begum was buried upto her neck for eight hours when the earthquake decimated her home in Balakot Khushnaz mehmood ran out of her school when the earthquake hit Muzaffarabad, Unfortunately, her brothers teacher told his class not to move so that most of hte class was killed and he (the teacher) was badly injured. Raja Safir holds a list of the people affected by a recent landslide (9th August 2006). Landslides are common and Raja and other surviving neighbours have setup makeshift homes in higher areas. Muhammad Saleem Khan pushed his unconscious wife Rubina on a home made stretcher for two days / now paralysed, she awaits more surgery in the Abbas Hospital in Muzaffarabad while Muhammad looks after the children. Samina Hussains daughters body has never been found; now she spends her days with her sole remaining child Shazeb, 4. The city of Balakot was completely destroyed by the earthquake. Though reconstruction is banned by the government as it is still a danger zone (red zone), people have started flattening the rubble to rebuild. Shabbirs wife Rubina nurses their two week-old baby Sonia but fears for their future. Their temporary home along with 17,000 rupees in savings has just been washed way in the recent flash floods. Shakila somehow manages to eke out a life on the pile of rubble which was once Balakot. But she says she will never forget the cries of the dying which went on for days after the earthquake.

On 8th October 2005 an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit the Indian sub-continent. An estimated 80,000 people were killed, and 2.8 million people were made homeless. Concern Worldwide commissioned Shahidul Alam to travel to Pakistan to visit two of the provinces that suffered the greatest destruction and loss of life, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and North West Frontier Province. Shahidul’s pictures reveal the devastation caused by the earthquake, and the resilience and determination of the people affected as they begin to rebuild their lives. To see the photos Shahidul took a year ago click here.

About Shahidul Alam

Shahidul is an award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and former President of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, founder of the Bangladesh Photographic Institute, and jury member for the World Press Photo award.