salco evoluzione 2003: cultiving memory

Muzzafarabad (Pakistan), 02.04.06.

The earthquake in Kashmir in October 2005 was the worst natural disaster Pakistan has ever known. It left 80,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands wounded. One year later, 3 million people were still homeless despite concerted relief operations: 27,000 aid flights brought 30,000 tons of first aid and food into the Himalayan regions struck by the quake.
The construction work to rebuild the 600,000 houses that were destroyed is just beginning in what is one of the poorest and most remote areas in the world. The villages here have been plunged into even more extreme poverty.

Luanda (Angola), 06.05.06, aerial view.

In February 2006 Angola is struck by a devastating cholera epidemic. The epicentre is Luanda, the country’s capital. During 23 years of civil war this city has grown exponentially, especially in the shanty quarters like Boa Vista. From the city the virus spread rapidly into the countryside. Thousands of people received treatment from MSF - Doctors Without Borders.

Pristina (Kosovo), 21.06.00, stadium.

The last meeting of the PDK (Kosovo Democratic Party) before the elections of November 2000. In the war that has just ended the cities, villages and countryside of this region have been burned and plundered. Its people have been dispersed, killed or made to flee; many will end up buried in mass graves whose existence has yet to be discovered. Once again an entire population, this time Kosovan, is forced into exile to suffer the ravages of war.

Hindu Kush mountain range, Badakhshan province (Afghanistan) 25.05.06.

In the southern provinces of the country a war is being fought against opium that runs parallel to the one against the Taliban. The US administration joins forces with the local authorities to prevent peasants from growing the poppies. Their efforts are slowed by a lack of means and of political motivation against a lucrative crop that fuels both the Taliban and the indigenous population, who are united in their determination not to give into the central government’s authority.