Epic monsoon rains washed over Pakistan last year, killing at least 2,000 people and making 4 million others homeless. As floods ravaged more than a fifth of the country, photographer Daniel Berehulak traveled to Sindh, the southeastern province worst hit by the deluge.
With his arresting images, which ran in NEWSWEEK and elsewhere, the New Delhi–based photographer documented a catastrophe that affected 20 million people by destroying farms, livelihoods, and basic infrastructure. The images won international acclaim, but on the ground, misery remained. According to Oxfam, some 800,000 families still lack permanent shelter, and a million people rely on food aid. Malnutrition is rampant, and the lack of sanitation and clean water has sparked an outbreak of diseases including gastroenteritis and diarrhea. In July, Berehulak went back in search of people and places he had photographed the year before, and his diptychs offer a quiet survey of an unresolved—often ignored—humanitarian crisis.
Upon on his return, he found Mueen, an 11-year-old boy who, with his grandfather (above, in August 2010), was returning home for the first time. The image captures two people lost, their silhouettes framed by car lights and reflected in dark water. “I am scared when I leave my house and see even small water on the side of the road and in fields,” the boy told the photographer.