TOKYO-2016

Endurance

  • Photographer
    Omar Havana

On April 25th, 2015 an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude shook Nepal. Almost 9,000 people died, more than 22,000 people suffered injuries and more than half a million houses were destroyed. For months aftershocks rocked the country. People occupied the streets and open spaces in fear. Chaos dominated daily life. One night, after running all day, photographing, as aftershocks struck repeatedly, I finally fell asleep, hugging my cameras. Someone touched me. I immediately thought they might want to steal my cameras but I turned to find an old woman, a woman who had lost everything, covering me with her quilt. She said, “We need to take care of you. You are telling the world the situation in our country. At that moment, I began “Endurance.” At first the world was interested and the media published a river of pictures showing the destruction but within weeks other stories took the headlines. Nepal vanished little by little from the news while the Nepali people continued their struggle, fighting as they did from day one, to help each other and rebuild out of the devastation. “Endurance” tells their story. For several months I traveled around Nepal, a country I loved, discovering stories like Pawn, whose mother hugged and lay over him as the earthquake began. She died but he survived with injuries only to his legs. From Bhaktapur to Gorkha, from Kathmandu to Sindhupalchowk, everywhere I went, the fight of those who I found impressed me. People were asking me to enter their homes, to share a tea, to pose for photos. “Endurance” little by little became a reality. A colleague once told me, “If the story is not told, it does not exist.” I want the story of the Nepali people’s response to the earthquake to be remembered. “Endurance” is a humble tribute to and a legacy for those who are working hard to see their nation rise again. “Endurance” is published as a limited edition of 800 copies produced by FotoEvidence. The book includes 72 black and white photographs shot across Nepal, immediately after the earthquake and in the months following. It is printed in a hardbound edition, measuring 20 x 30 cm. Film director Bernardo Bertolucci, who used images from “Endurance” for a fundraising campaign in Rome to help Nepal, will write a foreword. Other contributors include: South African photographer Gareth Bright, AFP Nepali correspondent Paavan Mathema and Amir Thapa, Senior Program Officer for International Medical Corps Nepal. Renown around the world for its extraordinary Himalayan landscape, Nepal should really be recognized for its extraordinary people. “Endurance” tells the story of their resilience, the story of a life spirit that spreads, like the smiles on their faces, over the streets filled with debris and the ruins of their homes.