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The Flood: Pakistan August 2010 (20 images)

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  • A family trapped on a small piece of dry land waited over five days without food and water for a rescue. Nearly a month after the flooding began hundreds still remain trapped and unable to escape to reief camps and/or safety.

  • A flood of near biblical proportions - nearly a month after the flooding began, the region remains completely inundated and major cities like Jacobabad completely evacuated and cut off from the rest of the country.

  • A Pakistan Army helicopter rescue team member evacuates a child trapped on a small piece of land - Dazed, confused, straved and exhausted, the family was rescued from the flood affected areas around the town of Gothki after surviving nearly five days without food and water and exposed to the elements. Many hundreds were trapped by the floods unable to leave because of the speed of the flooding or because they had no means to arrange an escape.

  • Holding on to the last moment a group of residents from villages surrounding Jacobabad are finally forced to leave their ancestral villages as flood waters continue to rise. Nearly a month after the flooding began many refused to leave their lands and their property for fear of loosing them to thieves or land grabbers.

  • A family, recently displaced from their villages near Jacobabad, holds a mulnourished newborn as thet wait in the hope of receiving food and medical aid at a relief camp on the outskirts of Sukkur.

  • A group of women wait anxiously in near 45C heat for relief supplies - tens of thousands are on the move and have completely overwhelmed the country's ability to provide food, water, and medical care for them. Even after a month since the flooding first began the disaster management programs and facilities appear stretched and inadequate.

  • A Multan railway station has become a makeshift refugee camp for hundreds displaced by the flooding of their villages and towns - a lack of relief facilities has forced many to seek shelter on roadsides, and civic buildings across some of the major metropolitan areas in the region.

  • A Multan railway station has become a makeshift refugee camp for hundreds displaced by the flooding of their villages and towns - a lack of relief facilities has forced many to seek shelter on roadsides, and civic buildings across some of the major metropolitan areas in the region.


  • The end of the road - flood waters continue to surround towns like Muzzaffarabad where residents must begin to find ways to live with the waters that show no signs of receeding even after nearly a month since they began.

  • Reduced to islands, men are forced to use the few available boats to get to and from their homes - millions have been forced from their homes and even after a month since the flooding water remains in place with no sign of receeding.

  • The power of the floods was such that each one of the 51 bridges that spanned the Swat river was washed away. The people have been forced to use makeshift boats, horses, cable cars and hand-made footbridges where possible, to get to and from their homes.

  • The slow process of reconstruction and rebuilding gets under way in the badly hit town of Marghaza, some miles from the city of Mingora, Swat.

  • Residents of Kalam negotiate a makeshift bridge across the Swat river - cut off from the rest of the country, Kalam and towns further north are completely depended on daily helicopter relief drops and men carrying supplies to remoter locations.

  • A view of what remains of what was once a thriving marketplace in the city of Kalam. The entire left bank of the river was torn apart and along with it the dozens of commercial and residential buildings that stood on it.

  • A view of what remains of what was once a thriving marketplace in the city of Kalam. The entire left bank of the river was torn apart and along with it the dozens of commercial and residential buildings that stood on it.

  • Refugees from the Muzzaffargarh area are evacuated by rail - massive flooding has forced millions to abandon their lands and homes and seek shelter in nearby cities like Multan.

  • Dazed, confused, straved and exhausted, a family is rescued from the flood affected areas around the town of Gothki after surviving nearly five days without food and water and exposed to the elements.

  • Dazed, confused, straved and exhausted, a family is rescued from the flood affected areas around the town of Gothki after surviving nearly five days without food and water and exposed to the elements.

  • On the outskirts of Shikarpur the flood continues it havoc, clearing entire towns of their populations and destroying millions of acres of arable and cultivated lands. Millions are on the move as a result and remain unsure when they will be able to return.