Silver! The photo above was awarded the second prize 🥈in the most prestigious Dutch photojournalism awards, de ‘Canon Zilveren Camera’ (‘Silver Camera’), in the ‘International News’ category. I took this photo, of the 28-year old Isabel and her children, in the Mozambican city of Beira, which was partially destroyed by the Idai Cyclone.
They waited for rescue for days, clinging on to trees and rooftops, after a powerful cyclone tore through Mozambique and triggered flash floods in what the UN has called "one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa”.
When rescue workers arrived in boats and helicopters, most had nothing more than the clothes on their backs, and their feet were swollen from days of waiting in water. Hundreds were taken to the Escola Secundaria Samora Machel in the city of Beira. Aid agencies were providing survivors with a bucket of drinking water and a large pot of rice, but other basics are still lacking. Some were relieved just to be alive, but said they fear for those left-behind.
Twenty-eight year old Isabel Daniel and her children were stuck on a roof for days before they were rescued. Together with hundreds of others, they survived by drinking boiled water.
The winning photograph was part of a series published by Al Jazeera English. To see more photo and video shot in Beira, of the cyclone Idai aftermath, you can click here. To see the other winning pictures in the Zilveren Camera awards, follow this link.
