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This is Sunayana, in her Puja (Prayer) room of her home at Teesta Bazar on 25Oct2023. She bitterly stated that the floods had not even spared her deity. She recollected being woken up at around 4 am on 04Oct2023 by her daughter and seeing a wall of water sweeping down the Teesta valley accompanied by the eerie sight of vehicles with headlights still shining, being swept away like toys. Sunayana and her family abandoned their home, fleeing uphill into the darkness. As we spoke, the sound of the Teesta River lapping at the edges of her basement served as a haunting reminder of the disaster's ongoing impact.

Praful Rao

savethehills@gmail.com +919475033744 India

Biography

Praful Rao is a self-taught photographer from Kalimpong, Darjeeling district, India.
As the founder and president of SaveTheHills (STH), an NGO focused on raising disaster awareness in the Himalayas, Praful advocates for community-led disaster prevention and response initiatives. His work with STH is documented on the blog (https://savethehills.blogspot.com).
While Praful has a passion for fine-art photography, he now focuses on photojournalism, using the medium of photography to tell the stories of disasters and their impact on communities.
This collection of photographs is a part of the endeavour.