Pakistan floods: six months on – DFID Flickr stories

Visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/5331062034/in/set-72157625637353967

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The Department for International Development tells compelling stories through its images and films, showing the impact of UK aid around the world. To mark six months since the Pakistan floods in 2010, DFID put together a package of case studies and striking images, including this one (and a couple of sister images) on Flickr which have seen nearly 500,000 views between them. Taken by Russell Watkins of DFID’s digital team, it was picked up by the Guardian, Reuters and others and reached an estimated 200 million people around the world.

Each of DFID’s image has a detail caption, and open licence promoting reuse, and clear links back to the rest of the campaign package:

An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters.

Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenomenon before – but they also report that there are now less mosquitos than they would expect, given the amount of stagnant, standing water that is around.

One theory is that mosquitos may be getting caught in the spiders webs, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.

UK aid – in response to the Pakistan floods – is helping millions of survivors return home and rebuild their lives.

Find out more about the UK government’s response to the Pakistan floods at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pakistan-floods-six-months

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