Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 17, 2023. Two women on the banks of the Swat River. During the violent monsoon rains of August 2022, the river overflowed its banks, causing extensive damage throughout the village. Many of the houses were destroyed. For several years now, the river has been widening, coming dangerously close to the surrounding homes.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 17, 2023. Portrait of Zainulu Abdeen, 67, on the former site of her house on the banks of the Swat River. It was destroyed during the violent monsoon rains that hit Pakistan in August 2022. He lived here with his whole family.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 17, 2023.
Punjab province, Pakistan, August 19, 2023. One of the districts worst affected by the devastating floods of August 2022.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 24, 2023. A mosque at the entrance to the village of Ali Hassan Jakhrani. In this particularly poor village, some people say they survive thanks to Allah.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 17, 2023. Portrait of Mah Repa at home. Before the violent floods of August 2022, this mother of five worked in her family’s sugar cane field. Now that the field has been completely destroyed, she can no longer work there and has to stay at home. In this conservative village in the Charsadda district, women are not allowed to go to any field other than their husbands.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 26, 2023.
Punjab province, Pakistan, August 17, 2023. Portrait of Tahina, 17 years old. She comes from a farming family and has worked in the fields with her sister Resha since the age of 10. Tahina has been sowing pesticide-coated corn for several years. Around her, many women working in the fields died. She explains that she feels unwell and often has pain in her stomach and head. She would like to go to school, but the lack of resources in her family forces her to work. She works in a region particularly prone to drought and explains that it is getting hotter and hotter.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 26, 2023. Women harvesting peppers in the Mirpur Khas district. They work all day for a daily wage of 100 rupees (less than 50 euro cents).
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 28, 2023.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 27, 2023. Men rebuilding their homes in the Bhai Jan village in Dadu province, which is still partially flooded. In the distance, stagnant water, the stigma of the previous year’s floods. Reconstruction is difficult, as floods still occur regularly. The inhabitants spend their time rebuilding what can be demolished in a matter of hours.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 27, 2023. Portrait of Zeenat, 15, and her cousin Phul, 20, who have been married for two months. They live in the village of Auk Solangi. Phul knows that his wife is a minor, and explains: “I’m happy, I know her well, she’s my cousin […] the floods have been very difficult, we’re happy about this marriage”. Although illegal in Pakistan, UNICEF estimates that 70% of Pakistani girls are married before the legal age of marriage. Extreme weather disturbances linked to climate change are only increasing the number of families separating from one or more of their daughters, as they are unable to meet their needs.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 27, 2023. This village in Dadu province, which is still partially flooded, was devastated a year ago during the violent floods. The inhabitants spend their time rebuilding what can be demolished in a matter of hours because of the flash floods.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 21, 2023. Portrait of Mukhtiar Begum, aged 55. Her son was killed in the floods of August 2022 when the roof of her house collapsed on him. Her shocked husband died two months later. Mukhtiar lives alone in her house, in extremely damp conditions that cause her numerous health problems. With no income, she cannot cope.
Punjab province, Pakistan, August 19, 2023. An emergency shelter in which this girl took refuge with her family, in the village of Baste Jowa.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 24, 2023. Women cross a stretch of flood water to reach the centre of their village, where a drinking water pump has been installed. Stagnant water following flooding encourages the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and cholera, to which women and girls are more exposed because they are responsible for finding drinking water.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 23, 2023. Portrait of Shahmir Larik. In January 2021, he found his daughter Monika, then aged 7, dead and showing signs of strangulation, near the house where she was working. She had been raped and then killed.
Punjab province, Pakistan, August 19, 2023. A father and his children in the Kachiabadi emergency camp. 35 families have been living here for a year. Most of them have great difficulty feeding themselves. Only wheat and rice are available.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 23, 2023. Maira, 13, was raped less than two months ago on her way home from selling her hand-sewn items. Sexual violence is increasingly common in these impoverished and abandoned regions.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 24, 2023. In this village in the Jacobabad district, the inhabitants have lost all means of subsistence with the destruction of nearby farmland still under floodwater. They are left without work and with very little to eat. Drinking water is only accessible across the floodwaters. As a result, health problems (malnutrition, deficiencies, etc.) are on the increase.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 23, 2023. Some men are preparing to cross Lake Bachel Mallah on their way to the island where they live, in the background. They will be bringing supplies, food and motorbikes. The lake has expanded considerably following the floods that devastated the area in 2022.
Sindh province, Pakistan, August 25, 2023. Women and children sleep in this shanty town stretching for several kilometres on the banks of the Indus. The people who live here come from Ghotki, in the north of Sindh province, a district particularly badly affected by the floods of August 2022. They come to Sukkur to work in the date warehouses during the season.