Picturing Pakistan's Floods: A Photographer Looks Back

Haiti, Chile, Eyjafjallajokull — 2010 was a year when catastrophic natural disasters felt in abundance and seemed to span the entire calendar year. With the media focused on the dire conditions these disasters caused, the devastating floods that swept across Pakistan, from July through mid-September, seemed to have garnered far less attention.

Photographer Daniel Berehulak was there for much of it, shooting in-depth, long-term coverage of a disaster that killed an estimated 1,700, affected more than 20 million and at one point left one-fifth of the country underwater.

Berehulak's images help translate these unthinkable numbers into something more comprehensible. His photo story was recently awarded first prize in the World Press Photo Contest, in the "People In The News" category. The India-based Australian photographer writes in an email:

"Covering the exodus of millions of people displaced, having been left homeless, hungry, stranded, desperate, lining roads begging for food, was an extremely emotionally taxing experience ... the fear and helplessness in their faces epitomized the tragedy of the floods."

Berehulak covered the floods for six weeks, chasing the rising waters from Khyber Paktunkhwa in the north to Sindh province in the south, often traveling by boat or helicopter, as mobility was limited. The World Press Photo winners were announced last week.