defying the tide.
In 2017, a major flood inundated the city of Malda, in West Bengal. The village, which lies at the border of Bangladesh and India, was destroyed, as mud and straw houses floated away, livestock drowned, and residents scrambled to seek higher ground for refuge. These photographs were taken in 2018, to document the aftermath of the flood.
Samir lost his home and belongings in the flood. He learned how to weave fishing nets to sell them to local fishermen, with the hopes of buying a bicycle.
A woman returns home from working in the field, a shovel tossed over her shoulder.
According to India’s 2011 census, approximately 70 percent of its population is rural. With infrastructural and economic setbacks, women are a large portion of the workforce. The woman pictured works in the rice paddies one afternoon, while her baby sleeps in the adjacent patch of grass.
Villagers dragged their belongings from one end of the village to the other, more dry area, using this impromptu wooden bridge. In the wake of the natural disaster, children use this bridge as a diving board for the lake.
Taken on assignment for Save the Children India.