Thomas James Hurst

International: Pakistan

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake rocked Pakistan and the mountainous region of Kashmir October 8th, 2005, killing 80,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless. These photographs document a glimpse into the aftermath as survivors deal with the grief of losing loved ones and livelihoods. Lack of shelter, food, water and medical help are a daily concern as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Recapturing community, rebuilding homes and restarting schools are priorities for these strong and determined people trying to regain a sense of normalcy while facing the harsh uncertainty of a fast-approaching winter.

©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times

Men pray on what was once the roof of a four-story mosque in the Pakistan city of Balakot. Mohammed Nazir, the mosque's imam said, "God has tested us this time. There is something better in the future." And yet others in Balakot felt that God was punishing them.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Ashib Fazal, 4 suffered a broken nose when he fell fleeing his home during the earthquake that killed thousands. Fazal and his father travel regularly from a neighboring village to have the wound cleaned and the bandage changed.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Relatives carry Sheik Kala Khan, 75, to the Human Development Foundation's base-camp hospital. Now, two months after the quake, camp doctors are seeing more routine cases than traumatic ones - infections instead of broken legs.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
     
  
Maboob Khan stands next to his front door - all that remains of his house, one of thousands that dotted village mountainsides, but are now piles of rubble or too damaged to inhabit.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
A boy presses against the thin synthetic walls of a hospital tent while waiting to be seen by doctors.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Hafeeza Zaheen, center front, keeps a small cooking fire burning in her livestock stable, where family members gather for warmth and community. The earthquake that claimed thousands also killed her youngest child, five-year-old daughter, Sultana, and her 9-year-old son Basit, second from the left, who suffers from tuberculosis, may not make it through the winter.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
     
  
Several times a day, village women trek to a well or mountain stream for water. Members of the Bagam family return to the village with water in silver urns perched atop their heads. Most villagers in the mountainous village of Puthian are living in nylon or canvas tents that were provided after the quake.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
At the Government High School, for children up to grade 10, some younger students assemble for studies outdoors. Other students meet in the school’s less-damaged classrooms.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Eighty-three ninth-graders study algebra in a math class taught by Mohammad Idress. An aisle in the middle of the classroom divides the girls from the boys. Classes are being held in some of the less damaged classrooms; however, students must now be squeezed tightly together so that they can share the few desks and books that remain.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
     
  
Gul Majeed, center, and his wife, Anyot Jan, remove dirt and rocks from what remains of their home, aided by neighbor Maboob Khan. The couple will use the fragile structure to shelter their cattle and livestock, which are crucial to their own survival.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Hafeeza Zaheen's surviving daughter, Muqatas, 7, runs along a footpath in Puthian, were the elevation ranges from 5,000 to 6,700 feet. With winter approaching, temperatures in the mountainous village and across the region will plummet and thousands still lack the proper shelter and food supplies necessary survive.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Mohammad Niaz throws stones from a collapsed house into a pile of rocks he’ll use to build another home. Almost every house in the village of Puthian was damaged or destroyed.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
     
  
Hafezza Zaheen, who lost her five-year-old daughter, Sultana, in the earthquake, comforts her young nephew Isran Liqat, whose mother was also killed. Liqat, 3, now lives with his father, in his grandfather's home; however, the women in the village of Puthian shower the boy with love and attention.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
   
Raja Mohammad Saghar, 80, lugs pieces of lumber up the mountain to build a new home for him and his family. Although many are living in canvas and synthetic tents provided by the government and aid organizations following the earthquake, the thin-skinned shelters will not provide adequate protection from freezing temperatures winter will bring.©2005-2006 Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times