A photo collection by photojournalist Fatemeh Behboudi is to be displayed at the 6th Lumix Festival in Hanover, June 20-24.
The black and white photos titled “Life After Shock” describes the trauma in the aftermath of three earthquakes in Iran, Mehr News Agency reported on its Persian website.
The 33-year-old photographer has documented the pain and agony of the survivors of the 2012 earthquakes in Tabriz, 2013 quake in Bushehr and the natural calamity in Kermanshah last year.
“Earthquake and its effects on the life of people are major issues in my work. Almost 90% of houses in Iran are built on and/or near fault line and the country has the highest death toll from this type of natural disaster in the world. Yet many ignore the issue,” Behboudi said.
According to the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology based in Tehran, Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, crisscrossed by several major faults that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.
The Iranian plateau is subject to most types of tectonic activity, including active folding, faulting and volcanic eruptions. Since 1900, at least 126,000 fatalities have resulted from earthquakes in the country.
The 2012 earthquake near Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, left more than 300 dead mostly women and children. One year later Bushehr Province to the south was shaken by a 6.3 magnitude tremor that left 37 dead and more than 850 injured. On November 2017, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Ezgeleh, Kermanshah Province and the region bordering Iraq. It cut short the lives of at least 630 people and injured more than 8,100 others.
Behboudi has previously held exhibitions in Malaysia and Myanmar. Her photos about mothers of martyrs in 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war tilted “Mothers of Patience” have been commended by World Press Photo in Contemporary Issues. The 6th Lumix Festival, organized for young photojournalists, will exhibit works of 60 artists.
