2004 Photo Contest, People in the News, 2nd prize
Photographer

Jan Grarup

Politiken / Rapho

01 December, 2003

A girl and her mother sit in the ruins of their home - they survived the quake because they stayed in the bedroom as the rest of the house collapsed. On December 26, the ancient fortress city of Bam was struck by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, with the loss of tens of thousands of lives. Around 85 per cent of the town's buildings were destroyed, leaving nearly the entire population homeless. Many spent freezing nights in tents provided by aid agencies, as rescue operations got underway. The UN and Red Cross appealed for a total of US$ 73 million to help the victims.

About the photographer

Jan Grarup

Grarup’s work reflects his belief in photojournalism’s role as an instrument of witness and memory to incite change, and the necessity of telling the stories of people who are re...

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