Abir Abdullah

Cyclone Survivors, Bangladesh 2007

Abir Abdullah (b.1971, Bangladesh) began his photography career in 1996 at Drik Picture Library in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is currently working with the European Press Photo Agency as a Bangladesh correspondent. His photographs have been published in Time, Newsweek, Der Speigel, New Internationalist, The Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Asiaweek, Stern and Geo. Abir won the Mother Jones award for his documentary project about the War Veterans of Bangladesh in 2001.

About the Photograph:

Bangladeshi people who lived beside the sea move towards safe shelter before cyclone Sidr hits at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in November 2007. The cyclone crossed the coastal areas causing strong wind, pounding rain and tidal waves. Disaster shelters on stilts housing refugees plus early warning systems and timely evacuations appear to have greatly reduced the fatalities from Sidr. The cyclone killed over 3,000 people and left  over 20,000 homeless but was much less than the 140,000 that died in 1991.