GREAT PHOTOJOURNALISM

Great Photojournalism

Carsten Snejbjerg

Faces of pollution and war

Faces of pollution and war

Sumgait town is 30 kilometres from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. It was once an industrial hub for chemical and heavy-metal production. Over 35 factories made mercury, aluminium, chlorine and acid for the Soviet economy, creating 300,000 tonnes of toxic waste every year. The half-million population of workers lived just a kilometre away. Sumgait soon had the highest infant-mortality rate in the world. Now 70 per cent of the population has some form of toxic-related illness.

Murad Mammadov 16.6.1990-25.1.1997

In Sumgait, Azerbaijan there is a cemetery with a special section where only children are buried. Infants, toddlers, and adolescents ” they had the misfortune to be born in the most "ecologically devastated place in the world," or so the scientists say. In 1992, the Azeri State Committee of Ecology officially declared the area an "ecological disaster zone," and rumors abound that Sumgait once held the notorious title of highest infant mortality rate in the world.

Rustam Sjekhalijev 4.12.1993-2.3.1998

Ilkhin Ismikhanly 27.5.1990-26.7.1999

Azar Mytallimov 9.3.1992-29.7.1995

During the Soviet-era, Sumgait was the paradigm for communist industrialization. Over 45,000 workers toiled in the factories and chemical plants that sprawled across the vast, desert landscape of the Apsheron Peninsula. Their labor churned out immeasurable amounts of aluminum, fertilizers, synthetic rubbers, industrial detergents, ammonia, heavy metals, chlorine, acids, all of which were voraciously consumed by the insatiable Soviet economy. In their haste to modernize, production quotas trumped environmental safeguards. Efficiency was prized over all else; human lives were tacitly relegated to a subservient level. The inevitable industrial waste produced was shipped to the city dump, or just piled high in a vacant lot and forgotten about.

Farida Aliyeva 16.2.1992-21.6.1994

Arifa Zejnalova 23.11.1996-12.9.1998

Elman Djabrajylov 18.3.1986-21.11.1989

The Nagorno-Karabakh War refers to the armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small ethnic enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the predominantly ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Many refugees came to Sumgait where they for many years lived in tents. That's another reason for the high child mortality.

Ajkun Mammadova 20.12.1990-5.6.1992

Orkhan Gulijev 15.12.1988-9.2.1997

Elvin Abilov 10.9.1992-?

Ajsel Mammadova 2.6.1992-8.9.1997

Amin Aslanov 1.10.2004-22.9.2006

Over half of the city's children suffer from asthma, and the rate of defects on development hovers at around 60 per thousand.

Rasjad Safarov 23.7.1988-20.10.1996

Mahammad Azajev 22.6.1998-7.8.1999

Rafiga Abbasgulujeva 26.12.1991-2.6.1994

Mehman Mammadov 3.8.1983-13.11.1996

Aly Abdullajev 20.11.1997-16.6.1998

Faig Afajev 4.8.1994-12.5.1997

Alijev Rasjid 18.6.1983-2.6.1994

The Soviet's myopic policies have left a chilling legacy in Sumgait: unprecedented ecological ruin. The corollary of their negligence is that over 70% of the city's residents are afflicted by some ailment associated with environmental pollution or factory working conditions.

Rasjid Arsjadly 19.12.1990-4.7.1994

Hasanov Camir Oglu 26.12.87-27.11.93

Vusada Humbatova 15/6/1986 - 20/7/1995