Thailand Tsunami Then and Now Gallery (Zoriah)

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UPDATE 3/29/2006: NEW SERIES CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Zoriah has uploaded a gripping series of comparison shots dealing with the tsunami that hit Thialand in 2004. I have posted it in its entirety below. Also, here is a link to a photographic book on the devestation produced by VII. To see some other great series, follow this link, or this one. Go here for a list of more books by great conflict photographers.

This backgrounder is provided by the photographer: As an ex disaster specialist I still have many friends working in the field all over the world and in the year following the Asian Tsunami I kept in close contact with them. Just as I expected I soon began to hear stories of how western money coupled with the tourism industry was rebuilding Thailand in record speed while Sri Lanka was still struggling and Banda Aceh was left only with resources for making baby steps. Slightly ahead of the one year anniversary of the Tsunami I decided to return to Thailand and shoot every image taken the year before from the exact same angle. Although I covered the Tsunami from both Thailand and Sri Lanka I was not able to get the funding necessary to return to Sri Lanka to re-capture those images one year later. I think that this is interesting in itself, as I literally had a long list of clients and agencies waiting for the Thailand project. However, a few weeks later John Stanmeyer from VII was able to return to Banda Aceh and shoot a project very similar to mine and it is viewable on the VII website. I find the two projects an interesting visual study in how two countries with very different economic structures recover from a major natural disaster.

[Editor's note: Zoriah is currently searching for funding or grants to return to Pakistan and Kashmir at the end of this year to complete an Earthquake Then and Now project.  Please contact Zoriah through his website if you are interested or have information.]