United Nations as more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Conditions on the ground remain desperate; more than 10,000 schools have been damaged and closed, over half the victims affected are children and over 100,000 face the immediate threat of starvation. Infrastructure, particularly bridges, lie in pieces and food distribution routes are compromised.

Raw File talked with photojournalist Asim Rafiqui about his thoughts on the international aid efforts, the response of the Pakistan government and the prospects for survivors. Rafiqui photographed displaced survivors along a stretch of the Grand Trunk Road near the towns of Mehmood Kot and Multan. They had been living on the highway divider for three weeks when Rafiqui met them.

Wired.com: Were these people recognized as being in need and were they going to receive help from government or aid agencies? Or is it a case of waiting for waters to abate to then piece a life and home together?

Asim Rafiqui (AR): One of the most striking things about this particular catastrophe has been the absence of a government response and the absence of official relief organizations, infrastructure and administration. What one sees, of at least during the weeks that I was working in the region around Multan, were various small relief camps being run by private individuals or private welfare organizations.

Many Pakistani communities also organized relief supplies and sent out trucks to various localities – these too could be seen parked along the sides of the road handing out basic foodstuffs and clothes. However there was no coordinated and organized relief response in the region and none of the people I spoke to seemed to know where to go or whom to turn to for assistance. They were getting sporadic supplies – some water, and occasionally some food, but they were not part of a broad, organized, and appropriately administered relief effort.

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Authors: Pete Brook

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