On October 8, 2005, Kashmir was struck by a severe earthquake. The epicenter lay in the Pakistani sector. Cities were wiped from the face of the earth, mountainsides turned into avalanches of mud and rock. Nearly a hundred thousand people died, and four million were otherwise affected by the disaster. Shahidul Alam visited the Pakistani disaster area two months after the quake. People were still clearing away the ruins and seeking the bodies of victims. At the same time, houses were being rebuilt and the first improvised shops were reopening. 'Nature had shown its fury,' says the photographer. 'Now people were fighting back.'

Shahidul Alam (Bangladesh, b. 1955) was present at the birth of the culture of photography in Bangladesh. He was the first president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, and founded institutes, a library, a webzine, and Chobi Mela - the only photo festival in South Asia. His series Remaking Destiny, about economic migrants, was seen in the Noorderlicht Festival, 2003.