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from Photographers Blog:
Strength born of calamity
By Swoan Parker
Everything was in its place. Knick-knacks of varying shapes perfectly lined the dresser as the dearly loved treasures from a literally broken home. Aline Deispeines’ concrete home was destroyed in the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010. Her new home, spotlessly kept, was a tent. Her life, like that of so many who survived the calamity, was changed forever. She, like so many other Haitians, had lost her home, her loved ones, her business, and all feeling of security for her future.
I came to know Aline, 44 and a single mother to daughter Tina, 13, and adopted daughter Herby, 24, after hearing about OFEDA, the Organization of Dedicated Women in Action. OFEDA is a grassroots organization of women in support of women. It is run by Aline, who against incredible odds formed the group just weeks after the quake. OFEDA, I would later learn, is a symbol of strength, hope and endurance.
When I was asked for story ideas related to International Women’s Day, I immediately thought of her.
I set out on the back of my motorbike and traveled to the grounds of a government-run school on Rues des Freres, an area outside of Port-au-Prince. Aline greeted me with a warm smile and welcoming hug. She escorted me to her office inside a tent located a couple hundred feet from the school building. As we sat down and began to talk, I told her of the story that I was working on and how I thought that OFEDA would be ideal. As we were talking other members of the organization began to enter the tent, curious to know what was going on. After brief introductions they sat down and listened as Aline told me how OFEDA came to be.
from Photographers Blog:
One year from that day
By Toru Hanai
It will soon be one year from that day - March 11, 2011.
Greetings among friends who meet after a long absence begins with, "Where and what were you doing on March 11?"
On March 11, 2011, I was photographing Prime Minister Naoto Kan during a committee session at the Parliament building in Tokyo.
from Full Focus:
Tsunami: Before and after
The moment when the tsunami struck Japan and the same view today.
from Photographers Blog:
Healing power of photography
By Yuriko Nakao
The 3.11 Portrait Project brings smiles to the victims of the triple-whammy disaster through the power of the photograph
After the magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked Japan in March 11 last year, as a photographer for a newswire service, I had many chances to document reality, which was often depressing and shocking. However, at times, I would feel rewarded when my work brought positive results by inviting support and compassion from around the world to those who were suffering. However, still, the support was often not directed specifically to the person pictured in my shots, which often made me feel helpless.
from Photographers Blog:
A fisherman’s sad tale
By Yuriko Nakao
Seaweed grower Takaaki Watanabe took to the sea in his boat before the massive tsunami roared into the northeastern Japanese town of Minamisanriku, becoming one of a lucky few to save the vessel essential for their livelihood.
But back on shore the raging waters of March 11 swept away his wife, his mother and his house, built on land in his family for 13 generations, though his three teenaged daughters managed to survive.
from Photographers Blog:
From the Quake to the Cup
By Mariana Bazo
Nearly 300 Haitians are stuck in Inapari, a tiny Peruvian village on the border with Brazil. They are victims of the 2010 earthquake in their country and traveled weeks chasing their dream of simply getting a job. They believe that in Brazil the upcoming World Cup is creating great opportunities.
Some 3,000 kilometers after leaving home, they reached the Brazilian border only to find it shut to them, closed to stop the wave of their compatriots that began to arrive after the disaster.
from Photographers Blog:
Nothing and no one between us
By Umit Bektas
At 13:41pm on Sunday, October 23 an earthquake measuring 7.2 magnitude hit the eastern Turkish province of Van. Minutes after the quake struck, first reports heralded large numbers of collapsed buildings with many people trapped under the debris. The first available flight to Van was on Monday so I decided to fly to Erzurum instead and from there take a four-hour drive to Van. When I arrived at Ercis, the town which had taken the brunt of the quake, it was just past midnight.
It was difficult in the dark to form a clear picture of the disaster and decide what to look for. I began to walk around the town. I photographed rescue workers making efforts to pluck people from under the rubble, but I could not spend more than a few minutes at each spot as I still had to get an overall picture. I had decided to look around for 45 minutes at the most before starting to transmit my first pictures. That was my plan until I came upon that one collapsed building.
from David Rohde:
Save lives in Turkey
A major earthquake in eastern Turkey Sunday morning killed up to 1,000 people and produced images of sweeping destruction and panicked pleas for help. Immediately dispatching search-and-rescue teams and humanitarian assistance is the right course of action for the United States and Europe.
There is a core humanitarian and moral duty to act now. Quick responses by American search-and-rescue teams saved earthquake victims in the past. Forty-three foreign teams - including six from the United States - pulled 123 Haitians from the rubble alive after last year’s devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince. Cynics about foreign aid should remember that providing humanitarian assistance in response to national disasters is a central tool in maintaining goodwill toward the United States.
from Photographers Blog:
Half a year after disaster
By Kim Kyung-hoon
“Time flies so fast.”
I can’t count how many times I've mumbled this phrase while traveling in Sendai and Fukushima last week for the six month anniversary of the March 11th earthquake and disaster that left tens of thousands dead across Japan and caused the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
With the scenes of fear and hopelessness from the areas devastated in March and the hardship of the assignments still vivid in my memory, I feel like the disaster happened just a few weeks ago.
from Summit Notebook:
Short-term hopes, long-term gloom
By Tomasz Janowski
Optimism that Japan's economy will bounce back from a post-quake slump and pessimism about its long-term prospects is the prevailing message of economists addressing the Reuters Rebuilding Japan Summit.
The reasons for the near-term optimism are well known: strides made by Japanese manufacturers in restoring production and supply networks ripped apart by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and expectations that sooner or later hundreds of billions of dollars spent on rebuilding the ravaged northeast coast will grease the wheels of the stuttering economy.
