THE TSUNAMI REMEMBERED
The Tsunami that tore apart coastal South Asia on 26 December 2004 killed more than 230,000 people. On the same day, Oxfam International began its largest-ever relief operation. One year on, Oxfam is still there, helping those who survived the disaster to rebuild their lives – and we will be there for many years to come. This photo book is based on after the wave, an Oxfam photography exhibition held jointly with Britain’s top news photographers. It conveys the emotion, determination, and hope of everyone affected.
after the wave is a visual testimony to the incredible strength of the people who have lived through the Tsunami, and who are gradually beginning to rebuild their lives. Donations from the public around the world helped to raise £188 million for Oxfam. This was our most successful appeal ever. Many of these photographs show what a difference this overwhelming generosity has made to millions of people. Now, we are concentrating on long-term reconstruction. Our priorities are to keep communities healthy (for instance, by restoring clean water supplies and providing toilets), to rebuild homes, and to help people to earn a living again. Our local partners have been crucial in ensuring that communities continue to receive this much-needed support. Because Oxfam and our partners were already working in this region, long before the Tsunami struck, we were able to respond immediately and efficiently. We have already helped more than 1.8 million people to rebuild. We’re not merely replacing what was destroyed: in the years to come, we’ll be helping people to work their way out of the poverty that made them so vulnerable to disaster in the first place. Thank you for your support.
Barbara Stocking, CBE Director
Photograph captions Photograph: Dan Chung the Guardian
Meulaboh, Indonesia. 02/01/05
Photograph: John Cobb Help the Aged
An elderly person receives medical assistance from a mobile health unit. Nagapattinam, southern India. 3/1/05
Photograph: Peter Nicholls The Times
Photograph: Abbie Trayler-Smith Daily Telegraph
A woman weeps for the daughter who slipped from her arms as the wave crashed over them. Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 18/01/05
Photograph: Abbie Trayler-Smith Daily Telegraph
The moment life changed beyond imagination. Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 21/01/05
Photograph: Abbie Trayler-Smith Daily Telegraph
Photograph: Dan Chung the Guardian
The devastated beachfront at Meulaboh, Indonesia. 02/01/05
Photograph: Jamie Wiseman Daily Mail
Boat washed four kilometres inland by the force of the Tsunami waves. Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 03/01/05
Photograph: Jim Holmes Oxfam
Š Times Newspapers Ltd
Volunteers cover bodies with dry ice in the grounds of a Buddhist temple on Phuket island, Thailand
Photograph: Howard Davies Oxfam
An Oxfam emergency team makes its way across the flooded roads to Ampara District in Sri Lanka, one of the areas worst hit by the Tsunami. 01/01/05
Photograph: Howard Davies Oxfam
Fishermen cast their nets, Ampara district, Sri Lanka. 31/10/05
A volunteer tent at Khao Lak in Thailand, a week after the Tsunami. 14/01/05
Photograph: Howard Davies Oxfam
A fisherman volunteers to remove debris from a well, eastern Sri Lanka. Oxfam paid volunteers to clean wells polluted by saltwater from the Tsunami. 20/02/05
Photograph: Mylvaganam Kesavan Oxfam
An Oxfam-funded boat restoration project, Vernacholi village, Sri Lanka. 28/02/05
A boy carries away a box of food which has been dropped by an Indonesian helicopter near Banda Aceh town. 01/01/05
Photograph: Lewis Whyld Rex Features
A girl releases a lantern at a memorial service in Phang Nga, Thailand. Mourners lit 10,000 candles and released 2,000 lanterns into the air, in memory of those who died
Photograph: Carmen Rodriguez Oxfam
Kala, 35, rebuilds the Tsunami-damaged saltpans in Vedaranyam, southern India, as part of an Oxfam-funded programme. Salt production provides a vital income for some of the most marginalised people in the area
Photograph: Ami Vitale
A man builds his new home. Tamil Nadu, India. 15/01/05
Photograph: Simon Townsley Rex Features
Women sweep the streets, which the Tsunami tore through ten months earlier. Tamil Nadu, India. 24/11/05
Photograph: Simon Townsley Rex Features
Children play in the community centre at an Oxfam shelter, South Andaman Island. The centre is used as a community meeting point for people to learn about keeping their families healthy. 26/11/05
Photograph: Simon Townsley Rex Features
Padma (foreground) and other women working in the Oxfam-funded coir-making unit, Mahendrapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. 23/11/05
Photograph: Simon Townsley Rex Features
Royan at his front door, Port Blair, South Andaman Island. The earthquake caused the island to tilt, leaving its southern tip 1.5 metres under water. Oxfam is providing shelters, and is clearing debris and stagnant water from agricultural land. 26/11/05 Photograph: David Levene the Guardian
Unbeaten: Cricket on the beach at Dickwella, Sri Lanka, 11 months after the Tsunami. 3/11/05
Photograph: Andy Blackmore Metro
A boy paints desks for the school which will shortly re-open on the site of the old one. Peraliya camp, Sri Lanka. 21/01/05
Photograph: Ami Vitale
Fish on sale at the market at Nagapattinum, Tamil Nadu, India. 09/05
Photograph: Jim Holmes Oxfam
Tom works on his new home in Aceh Besar, which was built with Oxfam’s support. Oxfam is building 2,100 earthquake-resistant houses in Indonesia. 15/10/05
Photograph: Justin Sutcliffe Oxfam
Zubaidah is part of an Oxfam programme which is enabling people to earn money by producing traditionallywoven textiles for sale in the local market. Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 17/11/05
Photograph: Howard Davies Oxfam
Rathinam Kunavathy (left) helps to rebuild a road as part of an Oxfam-funded cash-for-work scheme north of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. More than 60,000 women and men have taken part in Oxfam’s livelihood and cash-for-work programmes. 07/10/05 Photograph: Ami Vitale
Playtime at a temporary camp, Tamil Nadu, India. 31/8/05
Photograph: David Levene the Guardian
A family attends a ceremony at a Buddhist temple, Hambantota region, Sri Lanka. 4/11/05
Before and after photographs Photograph: Jim Holmes Oxfam
Before: (Cover photo) Brothers Rahmat and Ari look out from what’s left of their home. Next door is an Oxfam-supported shop where unwanted construction materials can be traded. Aceh Besar, Indonesia. 04/02/05
Photograph: Teri Pengilley
Before: A child scrambles over destroyed railway tracks near Galle, Sri Lanka. In the background, rescuers begin a recovery operation, where the force of the Tsunami submerged a bus with 50 people on board. 01/01/05
Photograph: Andy Hall The Observer
Before: High Street, Banda Aceh town, Indonesia. 11/01/05
Photograph: Sena Vidanagama AFP
Before: The destroyed central bus terminal in Galle, Sri Lanka. 27/12/04
Photograph: Jim Holmes Oxfam
After: (Back cover photo) Rahmat and Ari, five months later. In the background are new houses funded by Oxfam, Aceh Besar, Indonesia. 15/07/05
Photograph: Teri Pengilley
After: The train tracks have been rebuilt and trains are running again. Two kilometres away, the remains of a train in which 3,000 people died have been left as a permanent memorial. 03/10/05
Photograph: Jim Holmes Oxfam
After: The same location, several months on. A passer-by says: “I wouldn’t have thought I’d be happy to see traffic jams in Banda Aceh, but I’m glad they’re back.” 15/11/05
Photograph: David Levene the Guardian
After: Business as usual: Galle bus terminal, 11 months after the disaster. 6/11/05
Photographer profiles John Angerson
Howard Davies
For the past decade, documentary photographer John has worked on assignments for a variety of international publications. He has brought his unique perspective to a diverse array of subjects, ranging from the new South Africa to space exploration. He has gained many prestigious awards, including Ilford Photographer of the Year. John has published three books containing his work, and has held many solo exhibitions in the UK and Europe. His work with the Jesus Army was recently shown at the Visa Pour L’image festival in Perpignan, France.
Howard has been a photojournalist for more than 15 years, documenting major humanitarian crises in Africa, Asia, and the Balkans. He has worked extensively for international relief agencies including Oxfam, UNHCR, UNICEF, SCF, and the International Red Cross. For three years during the mid-1990s, he reported on the Rwandan refugee crisis. Into the Asylum, an exhibition of photographs exploring the experiences of asylum-seekers in the UK, has been widely exhibited after opening at the Guardian newsroom. Previously short-listed for the Amnesty Photojournalism Award, Howard founded the photo agency Exile Images in 2001.
Andy Blackmore
Immediately after the Tsunami, Howard visited Sri Lanka to record the devastation and first relief efforts. Later, he returned for three further assignments, for Oxfam and UNHCR, to record the recovery and reconstruction on the island.
Andy is a photographer and features writer, based in London. Formerly a Picture Editor for the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, Andy now works for Metro. Andy has judged many prestigious photographic awards, including the Amnesty International Media Awards, the Association of Photographers Awards and the Nikon Press Award. He has also provided commentary on photographic issues for Newsnight, Front Row, and ITN News – as well as for Nikon Pro, British Journal of Photography, and Amateur Photographer magazines. Andy says: “It sometimes feels like my whole life has been spent in photography... it’s a love affair as strong now as the day it started. A romance that blossomed as a way of avoiding games at school soon became my ticket away from the drudgery that awaited me as a toolmaker. Thanks to photography and Art College I had an escape route, and a profession. Along the way, this photographic journey has found me in Iraq and Sri Lanka... who knows where else it might take me?”
Dan Chung Dan began his career in 1994, as a trainee photographer at the Derby Evening Telegraph. In 2003, after five years with Reuters, Dan joined the Guardian as a Staff Photographer. Recent assignments have included the Pakistan earthquake, Niger famine, Tsunami in Indonesia, Iraq war and aftermath, the funeral of Pope John Paul II, and Euro 2004. His most recent awards include Photographer of the Year at the 2004 and 2005 What the Papers Say awards and 2004 Photographer of the Year at The Picture Editors’ Guild Awards. The after the wave exhibition was Dan’s idea: following the Tsunami, Dan approached Oxfam, and suggested this collaboration with Britain’s top news photographers.
John Cobb John has been a photographer for ten years. After working in Nairobi for Reuters and Associated Press, he moved to London and worked for the Daily Telegraph. John now specialises in the charity and environmental sector, and has a particular interest in Africa. Recent assignments for Help the Aged, HelpAge International, and Marie Stopes International have taken him to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya to cover issues that include HIV/AIDS, witchcraft, reproductive health, and food security. John worked for Help the Aged, documenting the impact of the Tsunami on older people in southern India.
Andy Hall Born in South Africa, Andy has been a photographer since 1989. He has regularly worked for the Observer, the Sunday Telegraph, Channel 4, and Der Spiegel. Andy’s photographs have appeared in numerous publications, exhibitions, and book projects. He has covered news stories in South Africa, Somalia, Mozambique, Angola, and Kosovo. His work covering the Tsunami and its aftermath was commissioned by the Observer Magazine. Andy lives in London, and is currently represented by Getty Images.
Jim Holmes Jim is a documentary photographer who has worked throughout Africa and southern Asia for almost 20 years. He has spent the past nine years living in Laos, from where he specialises in the visual documentation of both emergency interventions and long-term, community-driven development. Working with Oxfam International and a wide range of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), Jim’s images illustrate humanitarian need, and applicable solutions. His images are a powerful tool in raising public awareness of development issues.
David Levene David has been a London-based freelance photographer for six years. Most of his work has been for the Guardian – but David also contributes regularly to a number of social, architectural, art and design publications and organisations. He has documented various social, political, health, and development issues around the world, with charities and aid agencies that include Médecins Sans Frontières, WaterAid, Everychild, and Oxfam. David has also collaborated extensively with the Refugee Council to explore asylum and immigration issues, and has completed a major reportage project with London’s Hasidic Jewish communities.
Peter Nicholls Peter has been Staff Photographer with The Times for ten years, following nine years with Today. He has covered stories ranging from war and famine to royal tours, and the Oscars. Peter has worked in Africa, the Balkans, Asia, and the Middle East, with long stints in Afghanistan and Iraq. “As a result, I don’t shock too easily,” says Peter, “but I found the scale of the death and destruction caused by the Tsunami breathtakingly shocking.” Peter has won several awards and nominations for news, royal, and sports photography – most recently Foreign News Photographer of the Year for his work in Iraq in 2003.
Teri Pengilley
Abbie Trayler-Smith
Teri is a London-based freelance photojournalist, specialising in coverage of global news, feature photography and educational issues. During the past three years, Teri’s assignments have included the war in Iraq, social issues in Africa, and the immediate and longer-term effects of the Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Teri graduated from the London College of Printing with a PGDIP Photojournalism. Her photographs have appeared in numerous international publications, including the Sunday Times, the Guardian, and Time. Awards include a prestigious Commonwealth Society Award.
Abbie began taking photographs for the student newspaper while studying for a law degree at King’s College, London. She began working regularly for the Daily Telegraph, after graduating in 1998. Abbie has since worked on a huge variety of assignments, from the forgotten war in Sudan to anniversaries at Pearl Harbour, Rwanda, and the Falkland Islands. In 2002, Prime Minister Tony Blair presented Abbie with a special award for the Young Photographer of the Year, at the Picture Editors’ Guild Awards. In 2003, she was nominated in a record four categories, including Photographer of the Year.
Carmen Rodriguez
Sena is a Staff Photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP), and a member of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association (FCA) of Sri Lanka. Prior to the Tsunami, his work was exhibited at War and Peace in Sri Lanka, an AFP exhibition that contrasted images of death, destruction, grief and hardship with those of hope and renewal after the ceasefire.
Carmen is a Spanish journalist who works for Intermón Oxfam – a Spanish affiliate of Oxfam International – in Barcelona and Madrid. After she graduated in Political Science and Journalism, Carmen worked as a correspondent for several Spanish media organisations in London. In more recent years, she has worked for many NGOs. For Carmen, photography is a serious hobby that she puts to great effect while reporting on emergency situations for Intermón Oxfam. As well as visiting Tsunami-affected areas in India and Sri Lanka, Carmen has documented the conditions in refugee camps in Chad, and how so many thousands of Sudanese people are having to cope there.
Justin Sutcliffe Justin is a London-based freelance photojournalist, specialising in coverage of global news and events. During the past five years Justin’s assignments have included the war in Iraq, unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Moscow theatre siege, and the immediate and longer-term effects of the Tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Previously, Justin ran a successful photographic agency in New York. His work has appeared in many prestigious publications, including Stern, Newsweek, and Paris Match. Awards have included a World Press Photo third place in Spot News Singles, and the Photo Essay Award at the UK Picture Editors Awards. Justin also worked with Oxfam to curate the after the wave exhibition.
Simon Townsley Simon is an internationally-acclaimed photographer from Wellington, New Zealand, working on this project with Rex Features. Twice named British Press Photographer of the Year, and winner of the Nikon Press Awards Photo Essay of the Year, he is based in London and was Senior Photographer at the Sunday Times for 12 years. Major photojournalistic assignments include the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the first democratic elections in South Africa, and conflicts in the Gulf, Balkans, Africa, and Asia. His work has appeared in publications throughout the world, including Life Book of the Year, Time, Newsweek, The Times, Stern, and the New York Times.
Sena Vidanagama
Ami Vitale Having started out as a Picture Editor for Associated Press in the USA, Ami became a freelance photographer in 1998, working in Europe and Africa. In 2001, she moved to India where she covered events for many NGOs and magazines. Her pictures have appeared in numerous exhibits and publications around the world, including Geo, Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic Adventure, among many others. Ami’s long list of awards include the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant, a Magnum grant given in honour of Inge Morath, a grant given by the Alexia Foundation to promote cultural understanding – as well as awards in World Press Photos, Lucia Awards, National Press Photographers’ Association Magazine Photographer of the Year, and Pictures of the Year International awards.
Lewis Whyld Lewis started his career selling newspapers in his father’s shop before freelancing as a photographer for local papers. After completing a short college course, he started work at South West News Service. Lewis was nominated for the Photographer of the Year at the British Press Awards 2004, while still a student. The same year, other awards included Student Photographer of the Year, and UK and Ireland News Photographer of the Year. In 2005, he won a Special Award in the Region Photographer of the Year category of the 2005 Picture Editors’ Awards.
Jamie Wiseman Jamie is a Staff Photographer with the Daily Mail, covering both domestic and international news. He has travelled to many of the world’s trouble spots, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Speaking of his time covering the Tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Jamie said: “The sheer scale of the devastation was truly mind-blowing... it is always the case though, after visiting areas ravaged by war, famine, and natural disaster, that the stories that stay with you are of the families who survive; a child’s ability to smile, despite suffering unimaginable horrors; and the hospitality of people left with nothing at all.”
Exhibition credits Limited edition prints of the photographs are available to buy online. For more information visit; oxfam.org.uk/afterthewave
PRINT DETAILS
EXHIBITION PHOTOGRAPHERS
A selective catalogue of the photo exhibition. First published © Oxfam GB 2006
John Angerson* Scott Barbour/Getty Images* Andy Blackmore/Metro Dan Chung/the Guardian John Cobb/Help the Aged Howard Davies/Oxfam Kieran Doherty/Reuters* Jerry Galea/Oxfam* Andy Hall/The Observer Chris Harris/The Times* Jim Holmes/Oxfam Mylvaganam Kesavan/Oxfam
David Levene/the Guardian Peter Nicholls/The Times Teri Pengilley Carmen Rodriguez/Oxfam Sean Smith/the Guardian* Justin Sutcliffe/Oxfam Simon Townsley/Rex Features Abbie Trayler-Smith/Daily Telegraph Sena Vidanagama/AFP Ami Vitale Lewis Whyld/Rex Features Jamie Wiseman/Daily Mail
*These photographers have work included in the after the wave exhibition, but it has not been possible to include their photographs in this photobook. EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Rex Features – the main sponsor of after the wave – is the UK’s leading independent photographic press agency and picture library. The agency, founded more than 50 years ago, has a large UK and international network of photographers, and Rex’s celebrity and news pictures appear daily in leading publications worldwide. From its ever-expanding library of more than 15 million photographs – including nearly two million online – Rex can find the appropriate image for anyone who uses pictures. To find out more about Rex Features, and how they are involved in the after the wave exhibition, please visit www.rexfeatures.com Other sponsors include:
after the wave: THE TSUNAMI REMEMBERED
Individual photographs in this catalogue © named photographers or agencies as listed 2005 ISBN 0 85598 573 9 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. Reproduction, copy, transmission, or translation of any part of this publication may be made only under the following conditions: with the prior written permission of the publisher or of the photographer or agency as listed; or with a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE, UK, or from another national licensing agency; or for quotation in a review of the work; or under the terms set out below. This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for teaching purposes, but not for resale. Formal permission is required for all such uses, but normally will be granted immediately. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher or the photograph copyright holder, and a fee may be payable. This catalogue is available from: Oxfam Publishing, BEBC Distribution, PO Box 1496, Parkstone, Dorset, BH12 3YD, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1202 712933 Fax: +44 (0)1202 712930 email: oxfam@bebc.co.uk For details of local agents and representatives in other countries, consult our website: www.oxfam.org.uk/publications or contact Oxfam Publishing, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1865 473727; email: publish@oxfam.org.uk Printed by The MANSON Group Limited, 8 Porters Wood, Valley Road Industrial Estate, St Albans, AL3 6PZ. Oxfam GB is a registered charity, No. 202918, and is a member of Oxfam International. Inhouse Job No. 2830
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The after the wave photobook was produced by Oxfam’s Story Resources Team, and designed by Oxfam inhouse studio. Designer: Christian Guthier
after the wave : THE TSUNAMI REMEMBERED An Oxfam photography exhibition held jointly with some of Britain’s top news photographers, conveys the emotion, determination, and hope of everyone affected by the south Asia Tsunami on 26 December 2004
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after the wave : THE TSUNAMI REMEMBERED
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