PIR PAI, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Camped out in the central reservation of the Grand Trunk Road with his salvaged belongings, a now homeless Afghan refugee says Maghreb prayers as heavy traffic rolls by his flimsy tent. Thousands of families around Nowshera have been displaced following the worst rains in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century.
FIZAGAT, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
With all road links and communications severed between the banks of the Swat River, just three days after lethal floods devastated Khyber Pakhtunwa, desperate residents take to crossing the still high waters in home-made rafts. Constructed from the inner tubes of tyres strung together with bamboo, the dangerous vessels are the only means of transport available to those cut off from their homes.
FIZAGAT, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
With all road links and communications severed between the banks of the Swat River, just three days after lethal floods devastated Khyber Pakhtunwa, desperate residents take to crossing the still high waters in home-made rafts. Constructed from the inner tubes of tyres strung together with bamboo, the dangerous vessels are the only means of transport available to those cut off from their homes.
SHARAY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
With roads and villages surrounding Sharay destroyed by flooding, a young boy picks his way along a muddy track through the devastated landscape of Sharay.
KABAL, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
With every bridge in the Swat Valley in ruins, a man seriously injured by the floods is carried aloft on a charpoi by a group of men as they go in search of medical aid. Cut off from any hospital, their only hope is to reach an army base and hope that they can seek evacuation by air when the weather improves.
MINGORA, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
Dark, menacing storm clouds build over the Swat Valley hours before monsoon rains that will leave more than 800 dead devastate the region.
KALAM, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Bridges, roads, houses shops and hotels have been left in ruins by flood waters along the banks of the Swat River in Kalam.
KALAM, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
As flood waters recede, bridges, shops, hotels, houses and roads lie in ruins along the banks of the Swat River in the tourist haven of Kalam.
SWAT BANDA, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
Biting on her shawl to take away her pain and stop herself screaming, a woman is held down by female relatives as she is overcome with grief during funeral prayers for flood victim Naseeb Khan. Killed when he became overcome by torrential flood waters on the banks of the Swat River, shortly five year old Naseeb is just one of an estimated eight hundred to have died during the worst monsoon rains in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century.
SWAT BANDA, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
After being washed away by flood water, the body of thirty five year old father of two Naseeb Khan is laid out under a white sheet strewn with flowers as female relatives and members of the local Gujer community weep and sing funeral prayers prior to his burial. It took friends three hours to pull Naseeb from the dangerous fast flowing water after what were the heaviest rains in Khyber Pakhtunwa for nearly a century. An estimated eight hundred people have been killed in just two days of monsoon storms; the exact figure may never be known.
CHAKDARA, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
Following serious flooding and the subsequent loss of more than 500 lives, villagers from Lower Swat wade out into newly formed estuaries of the river to collect driftwood as the waters subside.
KALAM, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
An old man picks his way through the remains of the former waterside bazaar on the banks of the Swat River in Kalam. The far flung tourist haven has been devastated by the province's heaviest rains in nearly a century. Flooding has left hundreds dead, houses and houses in ruins and all roads and essential services cut off.
SHARAY, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
A baba and his grandson pick their way along the remains of the road in the devastated landscape around Sharay. May of the roads and all connecting bridges have been washed away in the floods leaving western Swat effectively cut-off, without communications, water or essential services.
CHAKDARA, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
Shielded from the heavy rains by an umbrella, a man looks out from a clifftop road near Chakdara across the flooded valley floor below. Forty eight hours of heavy monsoon rains have left entire submerged and more than five-hundred people dead.
CHAKDARA, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN- JULY 2010
Wrapped in a sodden blanket, a man makes his way along a clifftop road near Chakdara overlooking the flooded valley floor. Forty eight hours of heavy monsoon rains have left entire submerged and more than five-hundred people dead.
PIR PAI, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
As the waters recede after the worst floods in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century, a family of Afghan refugees from a village near Pir Pai return to their home with a donkey cart having salvaged what they can of their belongings from the devastation. More than one thousand people have been killed and over two and a half million affected by the flood waters in Pakistan over the last week.
CHARSADDA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
With the bridge broken by torrential flood waters, a women in a black burqa is lead by her two young children along a muddy causeway as they cross the Jindi River near Charsadda. Following heavy flooding that has left two and half million people in northern Pakistan effected, much of the region's infrastructure has been badly damaged and thousands of families are now fleeing their homes carrying what few possessions they can save.
PIR PAI, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
As the waters recede after the worst floods in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century, residents of a village near Pir Pai make their way through thick mud and debris as they return to their homes in order to salvage what they can of their belongings from the devastation.
CHARSADDA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Gripping her burqa in her teeth, a woman picks her way across a muddy causeway as diggers improvise a river crossing across the Jindi River after the collapse of the bridge following heavy floods. Much of the local population of Charsadda has been left homeless and without access to water, food and essential services.
PIR PAI, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
As the waters recede after the worst floods in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century, residents of a village near Pir Pai make their way through thick mud and debris as they return to their homes in order to salvage what they can of their belongings from the devastation.
PIR PAI, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Improvised tents of sticks and transparent plastic sheeting line the central reservation of the Grand Trunk Road near Nowshera. With thousands of families left homeless by the worst floods in Khyber Pakhtunwa in nearly a century, those without any means to rent accommodation have been forced onto this patch of high ground.
AZAKHEL, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Sitting on top of a pile of muddy blankets, mattresses, cushions and ustensils salvaged from their destroyed home in Azakhel, a group of men camped out on the high ground of the railway track, watch as a train passes them by. With nowhere to go and no aid reaching communities effected by the floods in Nowshera, thousands of homeless families are now living out in the open air in any spot they can find above the water level.
ESARA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Leaning against a wooden post, a young girl looks down from one of the small muddy hillocks across the hastily constructed IDP camp on the edge of Esara. With nearly every home in the village destroyed by floods, residents have moved into tents and improvised shelters on nearby patches of high ground.
UTMANZAI, CHARSADDA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Going out bare chested in the driving rain, a young boy digs a drainage channel around his family's water logged tent in the cemetery surrounding the devastated village of Utmanzai. As heavy monsoon rains fall once again in Northern Pakistan and bring a second round of flooding, thousands who have already lost their homes have been forced to pitch camp in flimsy shelters on patches of high ground.
AZIMABAD SHORGARA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Despite fast flowing flood waters of more than two metres almost sweeping way her farmhouse in the village of Azimabad Shorgara on the banks of the Khyali River, Parveen and her family have never left. Escaping onto the roof with her four children, they survived for three days without drinking water; the rescue helicopters that hovered overhead never saw them. Despite some rooms being over a metre deep in mud, the family are slowly clearing up the debris as they live among the damp ruins.
ESARA, PAKISTAN- AUGUST 2010
Homeless residents of Esara village in Charsadda make their way through muddy ground to rows of tents pitched on a patch of high ground close to their flooded homes. With almost every house in the area completely destroyed by the monsoon rains, residents are relying on aid from locals as they move into impromptu camps.
